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| Labour charges go sky-high in flood-hit Srinagar | | | Bashir Assad
Srinagar, Oct 18: The flood waters devastated the summer capital city in September. The crushing after-effects are being felt now. Unskilled labourers have hiked their charges from Rs 350 a day in August to Rs 1500 a day. The money is being charged for clearing the muck left by the flood waters in houses, buildings and other structures.
For other manual work like construction work, unskilled labour is charging Rs 500-550.
One of the major reasons for the hike in demand is that thousands of men who had come to Kashmir from Bihar, Orissa and other states for work have gone back to their home states after the flood. However, the demand for labour is at an all-time high since they are required for lifting the muck left by the flood waters in large residential areas and government buildings. In addition, the debris of the fallen buildings and houses also has to be cleared from many areas.
The labour that is available now is charging high for manual work, and people have no choice but to pay up to avail their services. A senior IAS officer in the Civil Secretariat yesterday commented that she has to pay a high sum to the labour to clean the sludge from her house. Her house in Raj Bagh was submerged up to the third floor. "It seems to me that my entire salary is going into paying the labour for lifting the dirt and filth caused by the flood waters," she said.
MK Koul, a retired government employee who lives in Raj Bagh, said that he paid Rs 1,700 a day to unskilled labourers to lift the muck from his house. "Our beautiful, expensive carpets had been spoiled by the flood. In addition to their charges, the labourers demanded that we should give them these carpets after their work was over. It is good that they took them away. At least the carpets will keep their houses warm in the winter," said Koul.
The demand among the general public is so high that government departments are not able to find labour to clean the buildings. A senior government official of the Estates Department said that they can only pay the government-approved rates to the labour. "Now demand is high and supply is low. The labour does not want to work for us, because they are getting much higher payment from the city residents and the businessmen and traders who want to get their own spaces cleaned," said the official.
Shagufta Kazi, a senior official in the Finance Department, said that winters are approaching fast, and people cannot wait for labour charges to come down. "We have no option other than paying the labour what they are demanding. Work on the houses has to be completed before winter sets in.
Floods or no floods, we have to prepare for winter and pay higher charges to unskilled labour," she said.
A local labourer, Ghulam Hassan Khan, said that he earned Rs 35,000 in three weeks since the floods. "I even charged Rs 3,000 a day to clear muck from the houses of rich people in Raj Bagh.
Their houses were so dirty after the flood and were stinking so much that they were ready to pay a high amount to get the houses cleaned as soon as possible.
It was very difficult to work there, but I kept on with the job. I am a poor man, and I need all the money that I can make," said Ghulam Hassan Khan. |
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