Labour shortage hits construction activity in Vizag

Construction companies in and around Visakhapatnam are facing a severe labour shortage over the last few weeks due to the intensified Seemandhra agitations.

Not only is there a shortage of labour, the wages too have gone up as these workers are now demanding more for just a few hours.

"Around 30 per cent of workers stay in city limits while the rest live in surrounding villages. As there is no transport available due to the ongoing anit-bifurcation strike, they are not in a position to come to work," said P Venkatapathi Raju, managing director, Srivarshini Builders.

State road transport buses are off the road since the agitation began and now even autos and vans are being stopped by these agitators.
 

At present, on every project just 40-50 per cent of the required workforce is available. The labour wages have increased 30-40 percent for just 4-5 hours, he added.

Frequent disruption in transport system is also pushing up some material costs besides delivery of material to the spot is also getting delayed.

"Before agitations we purchased five units of sand at Rs 12,000. Now the same has increased to Rs 15,000 and on each brick we have to pay an additional 20 paisa," Viswanadh, project-incharge of Aruna Constructions, laments.

Venkatapathi Raju said though they got four lifts for their Vepagunta project from Rajahmundry 13 days ago by road, these were yet to move to the project site.

However, as a result of the slowdown in construction activity, steel and cement retail sales have also fallen.

Says Krishna Rao, director, Vizag Profiles Ltd, "Of our total steel trading, 60 per cent comprises project sales and 40 per cent retail sales. But now in retail sales we are witnessing more than 50 per cent fall over the last three weeks as local steel dealers are not lifting the stock and this has forced us to reduce steel prices by Rs 2,500 per tonne in some products."

Cement prices too have taken a beating, according to an area manager of a cement company. In August first week, cement prices stood at Rs 310 per bag and this dropped to Rs 290 in the last week and now the same is available at Rs 260, he added.

"Previously we used to receive 150 tonne cement from our Nalgonda factory to the Vizag region daily. Now, we are getting only 75-100 tonne a day, that too with great difficulty," he added.

Local dealers have slashed orders 60-70 per cent from the last three weeks because of the agitations, a senior official from Sagar Cements, told Business Standard. "Though we are managing to bring cement here in spite of agitations, there are no takers as all are involved in agitations and construction activity has more or less come to a standstill," he said. The company has reduced prices by Rs 40 on each bag.