Occupation is a hazard for workers in Bawana
We have to negotiate these risks every day. The employers have scant regard for safety from fire or any hazardous situation that we have to face. The Nblock plastic factory where I work does not have even a single fire hydrant or multiple exits, which can save us during a disaster. SANJIT KUMAR PANDEY, works in a plastic factory
NEW DELHI: Every morning when 22-year-old Prince Kumar enters the plastic factory in Bawana, where he operates a machine, he is not sure whether he will return home in time or return at all. And, he is not alone.
Shaken by Saturday’s fire tragedy in the Industrial area, which left 17 workers dead and two others injured, many workers such as Kumar say they are reconsidering continuing job in the “unsafe” industrial units in the area. The industrial area where these people, mostly migrants to Delhi, work is one of the most fire prone in the city. There is at least one fire call reported from the area every day.
Kumar, who was one of the onlookers standing outside the F-block building in Sector 5, hours after the fire tragedy struck there, said the charred building was a tragedy waiting to happen and he could meet the same fate any day.
As he alleged that working conditions are both draining and unsafe and the situation has only worsened in the past five years that he has been working there, his observations were echoed by several others standing near him.
“We have to negotiate these risks every day. The employers have scant regard for safety from fire or any hazardous situation that we have to face. The N-block plastic factory where I work does not have even a single fire hydrant or multiple exits, which can save us if something similar was to happen there,” said Sanjit Kumar Pandey, another plastic factory worker.
With high powered machines being used in these factories, electrical safety is another concern but despite that workers like him and Kumar do not get life saving gear such as heavy shoes and gloves, they said.
Hari Om, a local electrician, whose work takes him to many of these factories, said the conditions were the same irrespective of what is manufactured there.
“All these labourers are paid a starting salary of ₹5,000 and made to toil for 12 hours, which is four hours beyond the promised schedule at the time of joining. If they leave earlier, they lose a day’s pay. Most live away from families and five or six fit themselves in small rooms given by the owner or live in nearby slums,” said Hari Om.
Fireworks, he added, were a new challenge to the already worrying safety scenario. “Factories operate machines beyond the permissible load capacity which means the possibility of fire due to short circuit is high. There are no hydrants or pipes or sprinklers to extinguish it,” he added.
Rajesh Kumar from Indian Federation of Trade Unions said most labourers in Bawana come from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. He added that the workers are locked in during the working hours.
“There is no inspection of working conditions in these factories by the state labour department and other authorities at all. Even teams which conduct occasional raids to rescue child labourers, overlook these gaps,” said Kumar.he said that Chief Inspector of Factories under the labour department is mandated to conduct periodic checks but that does not happen.