'Lack of skilled labour in Bengal impacting real-estate projects'

Realtors in West Bengal on Friday said the real estate industry is facing challenges due to shortage of skilled workers in the state which is impacting the completion deadline of ongoing projects.

"The major reason for delay (in project completion) is shortage of skilled workers... even the best of the projects is getting delayed because of the skilled labour crunch," Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India's (CREDAI) Bengal division president Sushil Mohta told media persons here.

He said with the state and central government initiating rural employment schemes and the rural infrastructure improving, villagers are staying back in rural pockets which is leading to the crunch.

Also, although earnings in the villages are not at par with earnings from the city, subsidy schemes on foodgrains are helping people sustain their family with lower earnings.

"Schemes are creating shortage of (skilled) workers," he said.

City-based Heritage Realty Group's CMD Harsh Vardhan Patodia said West Bengal was suffering badly as a large workforce was migrating to other states for better earning.

"Workers are migrating to other states where the income per day is higher than Bengal. This is also adding up to the want of skilled labourers in the state," he said.

Patodia said the daily wage of labourers in Bengal is Rs.350 whereas it is a minimum of Rs. 550 each day in other parts of India.