शिमला। मंडी के कमांद में आईआईटी के निर्माण कार्य में मोदी और प्रदेश की वीरभद्र सिंह सरकार के अफसरों व ठेकेदारों की ओर से गुंडागर्दी का खेला गया नंगा नाच बाहर आ गया है।कमेटी ने जांच के दौरान पाया कि ठेकेदार के ये गुंडे गांव व मजदूरों के बीच हथियारों के साथ घूमते रहे। कमांद में ठेकेदार की ओर से पंजाब से किराए पर लाए गए बाउंसरों की ओर से मजदूरों पर की फायरिंग के बाद मजदूरों ने चार बाउंसरों को मौत के घाट उतार दिया था।बाउंसरों की ओर से मजदूरों पर फायरिंग करने के बाद पुलिस मौके पर दो घंटे के बाद आई। ये प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री वीरभद्र सिंह जो गृहमंत्री भी है, मुख्य सचिव व गृह सचिव पी मित्रा और डीजीपी संजय कुमार पर सीधी टिप्पणी है।यही नहीं पीजीआई से घायल बाउंसरों को फरार होने दिया गया। ये पता नहीं है कि इन्हें पकड़ने के लिए वीरभद्र सिंह ने पंजाब के सीएम से और डीजीपी संजय कुमार ने पंजाब के डीजीपी से कोई बात भी की है या नहीं। खैर ये अलग मसला है।
इस मामले में मोदी सरकार व वीरभद्र सिंह सरकार के अफसरों व ठेकेदारों की गुंडागर्दी का पर्दाफाश सीटू की ओर से गठित सात सदस्यीय समिति ने अपनी फैक्ट फाइडिंग रिपोर्ट में किया है। कमेटी ने जांच के दौरान हर पहलू की बारीकी से परख की है और बाकायदा वीडियोग्राफी की है। सीटू ने अपनी रिपोर्ट में जिला मंडी के एसपी,डीसी के साथ सीपीडब्ल्यूडी, पीएफ,केंद्रीय लेबर मंत्रालय व प्रदेश के लेबर विभाग के अफसरों के खिलाफ कार्रवाई करने की मांग की है। इसके अलावा यहां पर ठेकेदारों के बीच चल रही जंग का खुलासा भी किया गया है। रिपोर्ट में सीपीडब्ल्यूडी के एक्सीन व ठेकेदार राजीव शर्मा के बीच रिश्वत कांड का संदेह भी जताया गया था। रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि ठेकेदार राजीव शर्मा को इसी एक्सीन ने काम करने वाली कंपनी से मिलवाया था। दोनों ठेकेदारों के बीच टकराव चल रहा था और मजदूरों को ईपीएफ जमा नहीं हो रहा था।
रिपोर्ट में ये भी सामने आया है कि जिला पुलिस को 16 जून को बता दिया था कि ठेकेदार राजीव शर्मा के साथ 10-12 गुंडे हथियारों से लैस होकर मजदूरों व गांव में खुलेआम धूम रहे है। लेकिन 20 जून तक पुलिस ने कोई कार्रवाई नहीं की और 20 जून को बाउंसरों ने फायरिंग कर दी । सवाल बड़ा है कि पुलिस ने कार्रवाई क्यों नहीं की और एसपी अभी भी वहीं डटा है।रिपोर्ट में ये भी सामने आया है कि सीपीडब्ल्यूडी के एक्सीन का ठेकेदार राजीव शर्मा के साथ याराना है। लेकिन ये एक्सीन भी अभी तक वहीं टिका हुआ है।
रिपोर्ट में घपले की ओर भी इशारा किया गया है। ठेकेदार कहता था कि उसने काम सीपीडब्ल्यू डी से लिया है और जिस कंपनी सुपर कंस्ट्रक्शन कंपनी को ठेका दिया गया है उसे नही है। ऐसा क्यों किया गया ये अलग जांच का मसला है। प्रदेश में चल रहे सभी तरह के प्रोजेक्टों में काम को आगे सब कांट्रेक्ट करने का धंधा चल रहा है और जमकर लेबर लॉ का उल्लंघन अफसरों व सरकारों की मिलीभगत से किया जा रहा है।
रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि 500में से एक ठेेकेदार ने कुल 150 मजदूरों के नाम ईपीएफ के लिए दर्ज किए गए है। प्रदेश लेबर विभाग के अफसरों ने जांच टीम को बताया कि उनके पास तीन चार महीने पहले ईपीएफ को लेकर शिकायत आई थी। सुपर कंस्ट्रक्शन कंपनी ने जनवरी से लेकर 20 जून तक ईपीएफ में दर्ज होने के लिए आवेदन तक नहीं किया था। 20 जून को कांड हो जाने के बाद 24 जून को आवेदन किया गया है।भुगतान नहीं हो रहा है इसे लेकर सीपीडब्ल्यूडी और सुपर कंस्ट्रक्शन कंपनी में से किसी ने कोई जानकारी दी है।
मंडी के कंमाद में हुए कांड को लेकर क्या -क्या हुआ ये जानने के लिए सीटू ने जो फैक्ट फाइंडिंग कमेटी गठित की उसमें क्या खुलासा हुआ है,उसे जानने के लिए यहां पढ़े पूरी रिपोर्ट-:
FACT FINDING REPORT OVER THE KAMAND INCIDENT
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) is being constructed in Kamand in Mandi district under the ministry of HRD, Government of India. The construction work is taking place in two sites North and South . The major work is pending in North block where the work is being executed by the CPWD . The contract has been awarded to Supreme company of Mumbai. Presently just 20% of the work stands completed and there is a general consensus over the sluggish pace of work carried out at the site. On 20th June 2015 an incident of firing and subsequent killing of 4 people came to light which shook the entire state. It is reported that there was an ongoing struggle in between the workmen and the management of Supreme company and some of its sub contractors for the deposit of EPF and disbursement of wages. This was brought to light that fire arms were used in which over half a dozen workers were wounded and 4 of the company hired people died. This is an unusual incident which is unprecedented in the history of the state . This led to the discussion and finally formation of a fact finding team at the behest of the CPIM which included the following members:
- Sanjay Chauhan Mayor, Municipal corporation, Shimla
- Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor, MC, Shimla.
- Dr kuldeep Tanwar, President , Himachal Kisan Sabha
- Adv. Sanjeev Bushan, High Court, Shimla .
- Prem Gautam, CWFI, HP.
- Mohar Singh, Retired SDM, HP.
- Bhupender Singh,
The committee members interacted with the following stake holders.
- 1. Workers of IIT Kamand site.
Mrs Reeta, a worker at IIT Kamand, firstly explained to the team that they were on strike from 15th June 2015 regarding the long standing demands mainly wages and Employees Provided Fund as the contractors were not paying the wages for the last two months and EPF was not deposited from the last 18 months. Despite that they have submitted their memorandum to Deputy Commissioner, Mandi on 19th June itself stating that some un-identified goons were threatening workers from 16th June onwards who were having guns and swords in their possession. On 20th at 9.30 a.m. as we were having gate meeting in the campus regarding the demands, 10-12 goons came with arms and swords in their hands and opened fired towards the workers and kept on saying that why we were having the rally and halted the work. The moment they fired towards workers, there was panic and we do not know what happened afterawards. It happened in front of GM of the Supreme Construction Co Mr Shirkant as he was also present during the incident. The police came after the 2 hours of the incident. All 10-12 goons kept on saying from 16th June onwards that they are employees of Mr Rajeev Sharma, contractor. After the firing they burnt the vehicles which were nearby and there was a heavy blast in one of the cars as it got burnt.
1.1,
Mr Vinod Kumar, Supervisor of the Supreme Co said that he had informed the Distt. police and CID at 9.35 am that 10-12 goons having pistols and swords in their hands are heading towards the workers and threatening them. Mr Sunder the president of CITU, Kamand unit narrated that they (the company goons) threatened the workers who were agitating to stop the agitation or else they will shoot . And exactly after 10 minutes they opened fired upon workers. The police came 2 hours late after the incident.
He told that he had already informed the CID/Police/Administration on 16th June that some unidentified persons were roaming in around Kamand area having pistol and swords in their possession. He explained that Mr Rajiv Sharma, who has hired the goons, was having good relation with Mr AP Garg Xen ,CPWD and was often found sitting in his office. All these goons used to come along with Mr Rajiv Sharma to the site area from the last 2-3 days. Rajiv used to say that I have taken the work from CPWD not from Supreme Construction Co.
- 2. Officers of labour and EPF Departments.
The team interacted with the following:
- Mr KC Joshi, Asst Commissioner, Employees Provident Fund, Chandigarh.
- Mr SK Kaushal, Joint Commissioner, labour department, Shimla.
- Navneet Sood, Deputy Labour officer, Shimla.
- Mr Vivek Naik, Labour officer, Shimla.
They informed the team that only 150 workers are enrolled out of over 500 workers with EPF department through labour contractors and one contractor has not deposited the EPF since the last 18 months.
We got the complaints 3-4 months back regarding the non depositing of EPF. Supreme Const Co has not registered till date with EPF and on 24th June itself they have applied for
EPF code . Despite the fact that they are in job from the Jan, 2014, being main Contractor of work in IIT Kamand, they should have applied in the beginning.
Neither CPWD nor Supreme Const Co has informed the department about delay in payments of workers which includes the EPF issue.
- 3. Supreme Construction Co:
Mr Shrikant, General Manager of Supreme Const. Co informed the team that he is having 475-500 workers and all are working through labour contractor Viz;
Mr Rajeev Sharma: 120 labours (started work April/2015 onwards)
Vinayak Cont Co, Mr Lalit Sharma: 220 labours
Nand Lal, Contractor: 120 labours
Chuni Lal Contractor: 30 labours
He informed that he used to pay all dues of the workers but this time on 14th June he transferred Rs 17 lakhs amount through RTGS into Nand Lal’s account and Nand lal cleared the outstanding payments till March/2015. Nand lal have paid the wages and also cleared the EPF amount of the workers.
He transferred 17 lakhs in Lalit Sharma account PNB, Pandoh on 16th June but afterwards he refused to pay to workers amount and said he shall not do so he may do whatever he want to do(Bhad main Jaye Sab).
Mr Rajiv is associated with the Supreme Co from the last 2 months and was introduced by CPWD Xen Mr AP Garg, all these people who were involved in the incident were his security guards and were enrolled as supervisors. The Supreme security men were not cooperating with them and they did not check the people who were having arms in their possession.
- 4. CPWD Xen:
Mr A P Garg Xen CPWD, informed the team that only 20% work is completed whereas completion target is October, 2015 and we are lagging behind. Being a project of Rs 179 Crores, 50 blocks in North and 6 blocks in south are yet to be constructed.
He said that the Supreme Conts Co is not implementing the labor laws in regards to wages and EPF issues. We tried to settle down and resolve the issue and asked Co and contractors to deposit the amount.
As labour laws comes under labor department so never intervened. Mr Rajiv has not been introduced by himself to the company and do not know his past background. All payments made to workmen are being counter singed by CPWD Junior engineers. He further denied that Rajiv is constructing 29 blocks and is only a labour contractor .
- 5. President of local Panchyat:
Mr Mohd Alli the president of local Kataula Panchyat told the team that 10-12 goons were roaming in the village from the last 2-3 days and telling that if workers asked for payments or EPF they will fire them. They were staying just near to the police station and always remained under the influence of drugs. He also said that the Supreme Co is dacoit and they are not paying the dues of workers.
- 6. Owner of the Guest House:
The owner of the house said that he has rented out 3 rooms in April and 2 rooms in May to Mr Rajiv Sharma and his T mate (Munshi) Mr Lalit and taken Rs 10,000 as advance and he stays himself at different place.
- 7. Police Chowki, Kamand.
The Police recovered one pistol 9 live cartridges, one sword (Toka) and 475 grams Bhuki (White power) on 24th June from the rented accommodation of the hired goons. They were staying there since 16th June 2015.
- 8. IIT, Kamand, Authority:
The team met with Registrar Mr Mohd Shakeel and Superintendent Engineer, Mr Kapoor and they informed that the whole project is being delayed by Supreme Co and CPWD. We have convened the meeting of workers on 27th May to resolve the long standing demands and a MOU was singed jointly by Contractors and workers union to pay the dues by 17th June. We have written to the higher authorities that no arms and ammunitions should be allowed by any private security gaurds in the construction site of the IIT Kamand Campus. The CPWD have not submitted the incident report till date to IIT Kamand. The CPWD is patronizing the Supreme Co and no minimum labour laws are being implemented. The incidents have made a black spot to the IIT history and people are concerned about the incident. They informed that they have been called by Deputy Commissioner at about 4 pm on 19th June to convene the meeting and resolve the same.
- 9. Superintendent of Police, Mandi:
The SP Mandi Mr Mohit Chawla informed the team that at about 10:15 am he ordered and deployed reserve police force and by 11:30 law and order was under control at IIT kamand. He has not been informed and even Deputy Commissioner did not talk to me about the memorandum in which the workers submitted on 19th June about the goons having pistols and swords and they are being threatened by them. Despite that I have suspended the entire Police Chowki staff on 21st itself as they totally failed even not informed to Police Head quarters Mandi. He informed that 3 teams have been deployed to nab the culprits. Mr Rajiv Sharma however is still absconding.
- 10. Deputy Commissioner, Mandi:
The team met with DC, Mandi Mr Sandeep Kadam,ADC, Mr Rigved Thakur and ADM, Mr Vivek Chandel and they told the team that the memorandum was submitted by IIT Kamand workers on 19th morning. The DC had asked the concerned authorities to take action regarding the culprits/ goons who were having pistols and swords in their possession. He talked to IIT authorities to resolve pending issue of wages and EPF of the workmen and take appropriate action at the earliest. Because of which the DC had sent on 20th Morning the SDM and Labour officers to the site to resolve the issues and they were just on the way when this incident took place.
Findings and suggestions:-
- The foremost finding pertains to the total failure of the Labour department of the state and the centre. There was complete confusion over the jurisdiction and at times stated that it is a concurrent subject . The labour department should have ensured that the workers at site are provided with the basic facility required to construct such huge projects. What to speak about having houses for the workers there were not even toilets for the women workers at the site. Further the dispute redressal mechanism too was not clear as both the state and central labour department were seen passing the buck onto each other. Hence there must be a clear cut demarcation over the jurisdiction of the respective departments as many central government sponsored institutions like the AIIMS, IIMs etc are coming in the state.
- The second important assessment pertains to the inept and incapacitated Provident fund department who do not have the machinery and the clear cut vision of intervention into such projects. Whereas the project work started 18 months ago but till date the department had no idea about the contribution of the employers to the provident fund. For projects that have a span of just 2 years or so this would be of great detriment to the interest of the workers. There was further confusion over the deposit of the EPF . Whereas the work has been awarded to Supreme company not a single unit has been enrolled under that company and it was the sub contractors of Supreme company who had created an account with the EPF. This ambiguity must be cleared as to whether ho will enroll the workers with the EPF department. The committee firmly recommends that the principal contractor should enroll the workers with the EPF department.
- The third and important element for the construction of the IIT happens to be the CPWD who is the principal employer according to the definition. The clear connivance of the official especially the Executive Engineer on site with the company owned by Rajiv has come to the fore. This was very starkly mentioned by Supreme company who is the principal contractor that they were coerced and forced to hand over the contract to Rajeev company . However this was denied by the Executive Engineer. Also an inter contractor struggle was also witnessed where Rajiv was made as the crony of CPWD and heavy bribe for such a choice cannot be ruled out. Further the CPWD had a major responsibility for not just the execution of the work but also to ensure that the work is carried out by the principal contractor and there are no sub contractors involved. There may have been labour supplier contracts but the allotment of 29 blocks to be constructed by Rajiv company itself is not just a violation but a clear cut connivance for ulterior motives. The committee strongly recommends action against the Mr AP Garg the executive engineer at site. The CPWD is also responsible for ensuring the implementation of labour laws at the site as they are the principal employers and have a solemn duty to ensure that the work is executed not just in quality but also the form in which it is carried out.
- The administration of the IIT too has a responsibility as they are the custodians of the work in progress but unfortunately apart from the formal visits they could not ensure the smooth construction of the project. This could also be deciphered from the fact when one of the local elected Panchayat Pradhan stated that the IIT administration too happen to be unconcerned about the woes of the local people . There was a general hostility against the IIT administration in the environment that could be easily gauged. Frequent interventions and monitoring by the IIT is required.
- The functioning of the district administration is a classical example of utter failure in functioning. The team could make out the complete discordant and non integration in between both the offices of the Deputy Commissioner Mandi and Superintendent of Police Mandi . Though the memorandum of the workers on 19th June very unambiguously stated of an imminence of the crime as they mentioned about the movement of the people with fire arms since 16th but the SP office stated they were not even aware of it. Similarly even the local police was informed about their (people with fire arms allegedly belonging to Rajiv company), movement and apparently were staying just 10meters away from the Police post kamand , still efforts were not made to nab them. It could be stated that the police if not involved definitely facilitated their terror tactics. The total callous attitude of the police could also be seen from the fact that the alleged people who fired were allowed a safe passage from PGI Chandigarh which is nothing but sheer subterfuge. Therefore the team firmly recommends appropriate action against the district administration and mere suspension of the police post personnel will not serve the purpose.
(Bhupender Singh) (Prem Gautam)
(Mohar Singh) (Dr Kuldeep Singh Tanwar)
ीतकcpwd pf encdistt cm governor video recording.
(Sanjeev Bhushan) (Sanjay Chauhan)
(Tikender Singh Panwar)
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