It is past 6 p.m. and P. Parshuram has wound up his work for the day. A worker at the site of an mid-size apartment complex near Clive Battery, he discusses with his colleagues the impact of the demonetisation on workers like them.
“We talk only about this and live in the hope that notes of all denominations will be available at the earliest. We cannot even take a break and return home for a few days,” says Mr. Parshuram, who hails from West Bengal. In his mid 40’s, he has to support his family that includes his mother, his wife and their two children. “We are not getting our full wages. We are able to manage here, but my family is not in a comfortable situation at the moment,” he says, but adds that the site supervisor has arranged for over a week’s provisions for more than a dozen workers employed in the site.
“The non-availability of cash is hurting workers. It is hurting individuals who are constructing independent homes the most. In large projects, builders can mobilise resources but individuals neither have the cash or the support system to do that. Many workers are returning to their native places, promising to come back after a month,” said a promoter of budget home projects.
Contractors and supervisors who do not have multiple accounts can withdraw only limited amounts of cash and they give only half the workers’ wages, spending the rest on buying rice and vegetables for them. “Most workers who hail from outside Tamil Nadu do not have bank accounts and there is no point in giving them Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes,” says N. Chidambaresh, president of the Chennai Civil Engineers Association.
Wages for construction workers from Tamil Nadu vary between Rs. 500 per day for a helper and Rs. 700 for a mason, while it is between Rs. 400 and Rs. 650 for workers from other States. “We are unable to pay the full wages, but we have assured them that they will be taken care of until the situation stabilises,” he adds.
Builders of bigger projects – special buildings (apartments less than four floors) and multi-storey buildings (over four floors) — say that supervisors are having a tough time distributing wages to the workers. The companies claim they do not have sufficient cash to disburse the entire week’s wages to all of them. Many workers who have managed to save cash have taken a holiday to go to their native villages, but this has not resulted in mass absenteeism and hence construction work has not been affected. The workers would come back the moment the situation eases, they say.
