MARGAO
Have government audits failed to crack down on illegal accommodation of industrial workers at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate?
Well, the audits and inspections carried out by various government agencies appear to have done little to address the large-scale accommodation of industrial workers in residential premises within the Cuncolim Industrial Estate. Despite a fatal ammonia leakage incident in October 2020 and a joint inspection by government agencies in March 2023, hundreds of industrial workers continue to be housed within the industrial estate, raising serious questions about enforcement and accountability.
The October 9, 2020 incident, in which a young worker lost his life following an ammonia leakage at a fish processing unit at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate, appears to have failed to serve as a wake-up call for the Directorate of Industries and the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (Goa IDC).
Nor does the joint inspection conducted by various government agencies in March 2023, which included the then Labour Commissioner Agnelo Fernandes and officials of the Goa IDC, appear to have brought about any significant change in the ground situation.
Locals, who have been waging a sustained battle against pollution in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate, allege that hundreds of industrial workers continue to be accommodated in residential premises within the estate. This has once again brought the focus on the apparent failure of government agencies to enforce regulations governing the use of industrial plots.
Significantly, the worker who died in the October 2020 ammonia leakage incident was not employed by the fish processing unit from where the gas had leaked. He was working with an adjoining tool manufacturing unit and was among a group of workers sleeping in a tented accommodation within the premises of the tool manufacturing unit when the ammonia leakage occurred at the neighbouring fish processing plant.
The tragic incident, the subsequent joint inspection and periodic audits have raised several pertinent questions that the government needs to address.
Does the law permit industrial units to accommodate their workers in residential premises within the industrial estate when the plots have been allotted for industrial or commercial purposes? If such accommodation is not permissible under the applicable regulations, why have the authorities failed to take decisive action against the alleged violations?
Equally important is the fate of the notices issued by the Goa IDC following the joint inspection in March 2023 to industrial units found accommodating labourers within their premises. Have these notices been pursued to their logical conclusion? Were any penalties imposed or corrective measures enforced? Or have the notices remained confined to official files, with little impact on the ground?
Three years after the joint inspection, the issue appears to have resurfaced with renewed urgency, bringing the Goa IDC under scrutiny over its enforcement record.
The larger question remains: Were the inspections and audits intended to ensure compliance, or have they merely become routine exercises without any tangible action on the ground?
Labour Dept flags violations, but says illegal worker accommodation not its mandate
File photo of the joint inspection of the Cuncolim Industrial estate led by then Labour Commissioner Agnelo Fernandes in March 2023.
MARGAO: The Labour Department’s audit of industrial units at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate has flagged several violations of labour norms, with chargesheets filed in court against the owners of more than a dozen units.
Labour officials, however, were quick to clarify that the issue of providing accommodation to industrial workers does not fall within the department’s jurisdiction. One official went a step further, stating that the responsibility for looking into the alleged illegal accommodation of workers rests with the owner of the industrial estate, i.e. the Goa Industrial Development Corporation.
He maintained that the Labour Department’s mandate is limited to addressing violations of labour laws concerning workers after they are hired through labour contractors.
The Goan understands that labour inspectors have filed chargesheets against more than a dozen industrial units. While some units have been penalised for violating labour norms, proceedings in several other cases are still pending before the courts.
“Labour inspectors have filed chargesheets against the units after finding workers accommodated in dingy premises with poor sanitation facilities and in violation of labour norms. We have no mandate under labour laws to look into issues beyond these violations,” a labour official said.
The official, however, hastened to add that workers residing within industrial units remain exposed to serious risks, particularly in the event of industrial accidents or disasters. This concern is underscored by the ammonia gas leak at a fish processing plant in 2020, which highlighted the dangers posed to workers living within industrial premises.
The October 2020 fatal incident at Cuncolim
An Ammonia gas leakage at a fish processing unit in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate in the wee hours left one labourer working in an adjoining Tool factory dead and some others injured.
While a 22-year old worker from Uttar Pradesh Kishan Kumar working in the Tool factory died in the incident, around 2-4 others were admitted in the Hospicio hospital and undergoing treatment.
Sources said the deceased and the injured workers employed in the adjoining tool manufacturing unit were sleeping in the temporary accommodation inside the boundary when the Amonia gas leakage took place at the fish processing unit.
