Updated - August 19, 2024 12:54 am IST
During the mornings, the labour addas (informal job markets where labourers hope to get hired for a day) of Hyderabad are filled with young men. Speaking in Bengali, Odiya, Hindi, and other languages, they hope to get hired by supervisors of construction sites.
Babul Shaik, a mason, arrived five years ago from a village in Malda district of West Bengal. “I had to look for work because I have no land, and no property except a small house that my father built,” he says. “I live in a room with four others from my village. In the morning, I walk to the Zehra Nagar labour adda, which is near our room. I mostly do plastering work and make 1,000-1,200 a day.”
At an under-construction site, Laxmi, 30, from Chhatisgarh, works as a helper. “I work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or even 7 p.m. I carry material [cement and sand amalgamate] into bathrooms, and throw debris out. I get paid 500-600 a day,” she says.
At larger construction sites, a contractor is entrusted to source migrant labourers. “Most of the larger projects are in West Hyderabad, in and around the IT Corridor. It is better to work here than live under tarpaulin sheets at smaller sites,” says a property consultant who deals with large construction firms.
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