‘Death Traps’: Who Will Delhi’s Workers Vote for to Ensure Safety?

Even as factories continue flouting safety rules, whom will workers vote for in Delhi Assembly elections?

Who will the workers vote for in Delhi Assembly elections?

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Video Editor: Kunal Mehra

Camera: Shah Umar

Gorakh Paswan, 45, migrated to Delhi from Bihar’s Ara district in 1995. At present, he works as an operator at a utensil manufacturing unit in Wazirpur industrial area, and has sustained at least seven work-related injuries thus far.

“If we run the machine at our own speed then we’d be told to run it faster. If we don’t comply, we’ll be asked to leave. The iron strip often breaks and we get hurt.”

Gorakh Paswan, Labourer

Gorakh isn’t the only labourer to have been injured while working.

Raju Prasad has been working as a labourer since 1994 after migrating from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district. His hands have six-seven cut marks which he received while pressing iron sheets needed to make steel utensils.

Raju Prasad has been working as a labourer since 1994. (Photo: Shah Umar/The Quint)

Labourers Work While Factories Are Locked from Outside

“When you work, the slab breaks at times and that’s when you get hurt. All we get is a belt that covers the front side.”

Raju Prasad, Labourer

According to the data compiled by the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), around 90 workers have been killed in fire accidents at factories between January 2018 and January 2020.

Ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections, The Quint met workers in Wazirpur and Jhilmil in order to assess whether the spate of fire accidents in factories will impact their electoral choice.

Most manufacturing units in Wazirpur industrial area specialise in making steel utensils. A characteristic feature of the factories is that their windows are often shut, sometimes even with bricks, thereby cutting off ventilation even though labourers are inside and working on the machines.

The Quint visited Wazirpur on Sunday, 26 January. Even though it was national holiday, and the main gates were bolted from the outside, machines could be heard whirring as labourers worked inside the factories.

This factory’s gate was locked but machines could be heard being operated. (Photo:  The Quint)

Providing a safe exit for workers is mandatory under Factories Act, 1948. Yet, most of the factories in Wazirpur have only one gate to which from enter as well as exit.

A reality check on ground, a month after the deadly Anaj Mandi fire in which more than 40 workers were killed in December 2019, reveals that no lessons have been learnt.

None Getting Wages Prescribed by Delhi Govt

Delhi government had announced a hike in wages in October 2019, as per which skilled labourers are supposed to receive Rs 18,000 per month.

But in Jhilmil, which is among the 24 recognised industrial clusters, hardly anybody is paid the standard rate.

For women, it is much worse – they have to work for lesser wages even though their working hours are the same as their male counterparts.

“Women can’t do heavy work which is why they earn less.”

Anita, Labourer

Anita with her two daughters near her jhuggi in Jhilmil. She gets a monthly wage of Rs 7,000.(Photo: Shah Umar/The Quint)

Labourers grapple with many issues, including workplace safety and wage disparity. Yet, they have made up their mind to give AAP another chance.

“If you are living in a jhuggi the electricity bill is Rs 1,000. If electricity is free, at least the poor man got back Rs 3,000.”

Gorakh Paswan, Labourer