Commonwealth Games: Finally, workers get some legal cover

Labourers working at Commonwealth Games project sites finally have some reason to smile.

A week since a drive was started by the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA), along with with the labour department and Delhi government, to ensure the rights of workers under labour laws, around 2,000 workers have successfully been registered and verified.

DLSA, which appointed a three-lawyer panel to look into the condition of Games project labourers, is holding camps every day till August 5 at various sites. So far, the panel has visited Akhsardham complex, Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Shastri park and Indira Gandhi International Airport site, Tughklak Road metro station and R K Khanna stadium.

DLSA project officer Gautam Manan, who is spearheading the drive, said all workers at different sites are being registered as per labour laws. The workers are also being insured against any kind of damage. "The camps sensitize the workers about their rights and insurance in case of any mishap. Most of these workers are daily wage earners and little do they realise that these things make a difference in their lives,'' he said.

The DLSA drive comes a week after the Delhi high court directed the government to verify the registration of all workers at Games sites across the capital. Despite the claims of the government that around 3,000 workers had been registered in the last two months, HC in its order on a PIL filed by Peoples' Union For Democratic Rights on the plight of the Games workers took a stern view of the situation. "It is worth noting that the figures that are stated in the affidavit do not refer to workers employed for the purpose of CWG...the learned counsel for the state could not clarify whether all the workers who are registered are employed in CWG or elsewhere,'' the court noted on the affidavit filed by the Delhi government saying "around 4,000 applications were being processed and over 31,000 workers had been registered till date''.

It directed the Delhi government to verify the "registrations that had been made'' and sought the "exact number of workers registered with the CWG". The HC also set up a three-member panel a third body apart from a workers' welfare board and a monitoring committee to sensitise them on their entitlements.

The HC was earlier told that around 48 workers had died at various Games site and due to the absence of any registration, the families of the deceased could not get any compensation.