Krishna Yadav, who hails from U.P.’s Jaunpur, has been working for the contractor firm Unnati for the last four years. He has highlighted the alleged malpractices of the firm while mourning the loss of his cousin Pankaj.
‘Exploitation’
Krishna, who is currently working at a venue in Gurugram, said he has worked in the DLF Capital Greens venue for nine months and he knows how workers are “exploited”.
Narrating a regular day, Krishna said they enter the housing society after showing their identity cards and getting their bags checked at the main gate. “Most of us are STP operators or fitters, while some are general staffers who take care of the gardens or clean floors. However, none of us have ever cleaned sewage tanks before,” he said, adding that there are trained labourers who come and do the job with required safety gears.
However, those who died were asked to clean the tank which they were not trained in or was supposed to do, he alleged. “Even if they were asked, they should have been provided masks and gloves, but they were not.”
Krishna alleged that on several occasions, the employer has asked the workers to do jobs which they were not hired for.
“We are asked to stay back after our shifts, citing staff crunch. And we are never paid for the overtimes,” he alleged.
On a normal day at work, he alleged, gloves and masks are not provided to workers.
Explaining the hierarchy, Krishna said that DLF had hired a company called JLL for the maintenance work who further deputed Unnati, the firm the deceased worked for.
Unnati could not be reached for a comment, ever after repeated attempts.