In the middle of the second wave, NHAI, contractors kept workers away with vaccines, food

By the end of April, with the second wave of anger, 5,000 road builders were affected by Covid, according to official data.

Vaccinations, isolation rooms, health insurance, ambulances with oxygen and food: these are some of the ways the country’s national road builders contained workers’ exodus from the workplace, even as the second wave of the pandemic broke out. .

Learning from the experience of the first shutdown in 2020, when dozens of migrant workers left their workplaces, including road construction sites, and returned hundreds of miles to their villages, contractors working on projects for the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). ) worked overtime to ensure the workers had a compelling reason to fall behind.

By the end of April, with the second wave of anger, 5,000 road builders were affected by Covid, according to official data. That number has now fallen to about 2,000 in NHAI’s 480 projects involving the construction of 25,000 km of roads for more than Rs 5 lakh crore.

In early April, contractors and officials deliberately conveyed the message that workers are much better off and safer staying in their camps on job sites than going to their villages. “Our contractors and construction companies have learned from the experience of the past year. Staff also realize that all of these facilities may not be as readily available if they decide to return to their villages,” NHAI president SS Sandhu told The Indian Express.

As the government insisted that vaccines were the only real protection against the disease, the NHAI organized about 700 vaccination camps in its workplaces across India.

Later, when workers started showing symptoms of Covid, about 2,700 beds were made available in isolation rooms installed in all projects. Ambulances with oxygen were also deployed. NHAI regional offices were activated to coordinate with district administrations and contractors at project sites.

In addition, testing for Covid became routine for all contractors. NHAI officials’ life insurance coverage was also increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

While officials said it is difficult to estimate the exact number of workers hired across India on any given day (as the labor share depends on the contractor’s need), the NHAI says that contractors are only between 10 and 15 percent have reported fewer employees than until March ends this year.

Workers who went to their villages in early April are also being turned back by contractors, authorities said. “There have been positive prospects among workers returning to the workplace and contractors facilitating their safe return,” Sandhu said.

This is because the country’s top road builders learned from last year’s shutdown, when they lost some of the best months for road construction due to the pandemic. Despite this, the NHAI built 4,192 km of state highways in 2020–21, the highest number to date.

With the aim of improving the construction record of the past fiscal year, the NHAI has instructed field offices to expedite construction work where possible as traffic remains low due to the related restrictions.