The 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi has a US$15.47 billion sticker price. The nameless migrant workers (nearly 200,000) who built these “state-of-the-art stadiums” and sports infrastructure earn as low as $2 a day, working and living under most appalling conditions. The media and critics made a stink about the Games village and facilities for the guests and athletes but not much has been spoken about the people who suffer in silence.
Every Law has been broken, Laws like the Payment of Wages Act, the Minimum Wages Act, the Contract Labor Act, the Equal Remuneration Act, the Interstate Migrant Workmen Act and the Building and Other Construction Workers Act. According to the high court monitoring committee’s report, these legislations have been flouted blindly. Most of the big contracting companies have paid a labor less than half his minimum wage. How? Many laborers have not been registered so they cannot claim benefits under the law. A People’s Union of Democratic Rights study shows that by denying CWG workers their rightful wages, contractors saved 360 crores (US $ 80 million) a year.
Press
“It was an obvious subject for somebody like Jodha who has for long been probing the subject of migrant workers in different parts of the country like tea gardens in the North East” The Hindu
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