New Delhi: The Delhi government had agreed to construction activities resuming on 3 May but closed borders, lack of supply material and social distancing norms have made completion of infrastructure projects a herculean task for builders.
ThePrint visited four construction sites in the Chittaranjan (CR) Park area of Delhi, where work has either been very slow or come to a grinding halt amid disruption of supply materials from neighbouring states.
Dipan Malik, whose PMR Constructions is building two residential houses in C Block, said, “We can only continue operations as long as we have the leftover material. We want to keep sites open to help workers but borders have to open for work to continue.”
Builders are using material, like tiles and beams, that can be easily procured in Delhi. “Supply of plaster, granite have stopped after the border closures,” said Fateh, the site contractor supervising work at one of buildings by PMR Constructions.
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Social distancing pushing deadlines further
Builders have also been unable to meet deadlines because social distancing norms have barred them from employing several workers at a time.
“To maintain social distancing, only two workers can work in one area. We are running at least 50 days behind schedule. Only 72 of 140 rooms have been built,” said Rahul Mehra, site engineer at the government-run SPM Sarvodaya Vidyalaya which is constructing a new building in CR Park’s B Block.
Seventy workers have been living together in separate rooms at the SPM Sarvodaya Vidyalaya. “Workers are living in already constructed rooms, with two in each. We sanitise the area thrice a day,” Mehra said.
Fateh, likewise, said one of the buildings by PMR Constructions was supposed to be completed by June. “Now we are looking at November.”
Resuming work in the middle of a pandemic has also meant taking precautions about health risks.
“It’s a huge risk. We have given masks to workers. My father is diabetic … I go to inspect these sites so I have to be careful. We have asked workers to work and sleep at least 1.5 metres apart,” said Malik.
Almost all the builders ThePrint spoke to said they have stopped workers from stepping outside the site and don’t allow outsiders to come inside either to prevent contracting Covid-19. Offsite workers were also not allowed to work at these sites.
“No outsiders are allowed. Only teams that live together on site are working,” said Malik.
Surendra Pandit, one of the workers at a C Block residential complex, however, said he walked 10 km from his house near Badarpur when he heard construction work had resumed.
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‘We get one meal, have to hunt for other two’
Access to food and ration have proved to be difficult for many workers in these construction sites. Rani Devi, who lives with her two children and five other people at the makeshift tent of a construction site in A Block, said they get only one meal from the government and try to look for the two other.
“The builder sends Rs 1,000 once in 10-15 days. How will I sustain my family with Rs 1,000? The builder should just clarify if work will continue or not. Otherwise we will look for ways of going back home,” Devi said.
ThePrint tried to contact Sunny Asrani, the builder, who had not responded to calls or messages till the filing of this report.
Access to food has been equally difficult for off-site workers. “I either wait for police to come and distribute food in my area or look for a nearby langar. But that has also been difficult with curbs in place everywhere,” said Ram Preet, who works at a C Block building.
At the SPM Sarvodaya Vidyalaya site, however, workers said accessing food and ration has not been hard. “The government gave us ration for over a month. So we cook at the site,” said Praduymna Bajpai, the site supervisor.
Many workers also said they wanted to go home, despite resumption of work after more than 50 days since the lockdown.
“My mother is unwell back home. I had a ticket to go back on 1 April but the lockdown was imposed. So I had to stay back,” said Surendra Pandit, a resident of Bihar’s Vaishali district who is working at one of the buildings in C Block.
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