Builders of india....

Skycrapers, multiplexes, and the mighty bridges and dams...

Its their quest for livelihood which makes these building projects a reality. Whatever novelty and creativity might be shown by the architects, its the workers' audaciousness matters in actualising the plans.
Buiding work has been one of the oldest industries in india. In karnataka, there are lakhs of toilers, in fact there is no statistics available for entire state. Trade union leaders say there will be 10 lakhs labourers in the state(This is not official compilation).
In mangalore city, we can see many points, where one can find these sort of migrant labourers, who lack all basic necessities.Generally, MESTRIES(work supervisors) come to these points and pick up them in whatever number he needs. Some times a tempo-full of workers are transported for bulding works, to the sites.
These poor workers, live in untidy tents, evenwhen the rain pours heavily! They bathe there, and openly defecate. People in the trade union opine that, basic ameneties should be provided by the authorities or builders, who employ them. But problem is that, labourers have no permanant work. Most of them in Mangalore are migrated either from northern parts of karnataka or nieghbour state Tamilnadu.
Often they fell prey to diseases like malaria, diarrhea.
Central government has already made an Act in 1996, but it is the state government which actually needs to formulate the rules. According to the central act, builders have to provide healthy shelters, toilets and other basic ameneties.
When buiders spend lakhs of rupees to get license and other permitts in unethical ways, but they deny minimum facilities, abourers deplore. They accuse that, buiders have successfully hindered state government in bringing out regulations. If state govt implements the rules, then builders have to shed one rupee for every cement spent worth 1000 Rs.
Whatever the accusations are, the irony is that when a skycraper is complete the worker would be still inside a tent, worrying about his next destination.