Hyderabad: Construction firms offer flight tickets, extra pay to lure migrant workers back

Several construction firms are unable to meet ir guidelines due to a short of labour as migrant workers have returned to ir home states amid coronavirus outbreak. To overcome crisis situation, construction firms in Hyderab are trying to lure labourers back to work by offering flight tickets and extra payments.

A senior official of an infrastructure company said short of workers in city is forcing companies to resort to attracting m with lucrative offers.

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senior vice-president of Prestige Group, Hyderab, R Suresh Kumar said that one of ir contractors has booked flight tickets to bring back 10 carpenters from Patna to Hyderab. Justifying move, Kumar said that though deline for completion of real estate projects has been extended, some firms such as his are determined to finish m in a possible time. Currently, Prestige Group has undertaken three projects in Hyderab.

“We h about 2,300 workers at our sites. w, we have about 700. We are putting in all our efforts to see required workforce is placed at sites. aim is to see projects are completed on time and product delivered to customer," he said.

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Labour short in Telangana

Telangana government h earlier said re were about 3.5 lakh migrant labourers working in state before lockdown. However, most of m have returned as lockdown was extended. Some even walked hundreds of kilometers to reach ir home states. Though Centre has allowed construction companies to carry out operations with available labour, sudden short of manpower is forcing some companies to resort to poaching.

"All are in desperate times. Poaching of workers also started as firms want to complete ir projects and get back stalled bills," a senior official of a construction firm said.

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An official of Andhra Presh Irrigation Department said nearly 1,200 workers at Polavaram project suddenly left last month, forcing Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), contractor for project, to arrange special trains to bring labourers from or states.

official said workers h left despite offering Rs 10,000 above ir payment. Sources in MEIL said about 1,000 workers have returned so far and ar 1,800 are expected within a week at project site.

(With PTI inputs)

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