Empathise, not exploit the poor

Recently I was travelling by bus to Chandigarh. Before reaching the highway, the bus stopped at Miller Ganj where many passengers boarded the bus. Miller Ganj is the largest industrial area of Ludhiana, employing a huge number of labourers from different parts of the country.

Sitting on a window seat, I spotted a young boy, accompanied by two middle-aged labourers pulling a cart with goods. The boy asked them to load the goods in the dicky of the bus and gave them their labour charges.

Suddenly, I heard a commotion. The labourers were arguing with the boy about the money which they had been promised earlier. The boy rudely told them, “Itne paise hi milenge, lene hai to lo, nahin to jao (You will get only this much payment, take it or leave it). Saying this, he ran to board the bus which had started moving. I felt sad for the labourers.

I have come across many similar situations, in particular during house constructions or renovations.  After work is finished, many people sometimes refuse to pay masons and labourers, on the pretext that some portion of the house has not been constructed according to their choice, and they should either build it again or they shall not be paid. If the labourers show their inability, the house owner gets angry, saying "Who will pay for the loss of the material which you have wasted?" Some people even go to the extent of snatching their tools and shoo them away.

This is the dark underbelly our society, exploiting illiterate, poor and ignorant.

There have been many news about labourers losing lives, after being hired for a pittance to clean septic tanks.

The law may not be able do much in these situations, therefore I sincerely urge people to be more humane towards these poor sections of society.

Ravinder Kumar Jain, Ludhiana