Indian Committee Finds Games Construction Workers Exploited

18 March 2010

Workers labor to renovate Delhi's famous Connaught place for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, in New Delhi, 04 Mar 2010

A committee appointed by the Delhi High Court has determined workers building facilities for this year's Commonwealth Games in India are being exploited by contractors apparently unaware of labor laws.

A preliminary report submitted to the Delhi High Court finds all allegations made in complaints about workers' conditions "are well founded."

Those charges include laborers working and living in highly dangerous and deplorable conditions; earning less than the stipulated minimum wage; with no access to basic sanitation and health facilities; and, lacking safety equipment.

The four-member court-appointed monitoring panel blames the exploitation directly on private contractors being unaware of any liability in violating labor laws.

One of the advocates for the Commonwealth Games' site workers, Tariq Adeeb of the Human Rights Law Network, tells VOA News that India's central government and Delhi authorities should ultimately be held responsible.

"If the contractors are not aware of the rules and regulations of the government, then it's the responsibility of the government. Why they have given such contracts to those people who are not aware of anything," asks Adeeb.