Realty projects hit labour hurdle

Migrant workers from UP, Bihar going home owing to rise in construction activity there

The real estate market in the city is facing acute labour shortage. Owing to the rise in development projects in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, migrant labourers are going back to their respective states. It has resulted in the slowing down of construction work on many projects in the city in the last few months.

According to many builders, owing to rapid development in these states, labourers do not find the need to migrate to other states for employment opportunities resulting in a severe shortage that has grown acute over the last six months. Satish Magar, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), Pune chapter told MiD DAY that construction work on some of the projects has slowed down making it difficult to find skilled labour to finish projects on time. "The only option left before us is mechanisation in such a crisis. Several workers in the past few months have migrated back to their homes in the northern states since they have now found greener pastures there. This has genuinely become worrisome," said Magar.u00a0

"Construction workers from the northern states are now being employed in the construction projects there itself, as massive development work is being carried out there. Plus, these states have also received good rainfall last year so most of them are reaping the benefits of a good produce," said Amol Biradar, a sales manager from Anand Group.

Rohit Gera, joint managing director of Gera Developments, said that qualified trained manpower has been scarce owing to this reverse migration. "This has led to increase in manpower cost because of excess demand and a fall in supply. Labour contractors try and charge higher prices in such situations. If you pay less, you get untrained labour, affecting product quality, which we cannot risk. During monsoon, construction activity reduces a little since it rains heavily. We are worried about the labour shortage adding to the slow construction work," said Gera.

He added rise in labour cost has lead to overall increase in prices of apartments along with the regular appreciation of real estate costs with every passing month.

Anil Mathur, assistant vice-president of Raheja Universal, too acknowledged this problem.

"Labour contractors are now asking for partial payments in advance, since they are also finding it difficult to source labour from other states,"u00a0 he added.