Daily wage construction workers struggle to find work, stare at livelihood crisis

With several tenders scrapped and contract work left incomplete in recent months, several civil contractors have been without work in Tiruchi. | Photo Credit: R. VENGADESH Construction workers are facing livelihood issues due to a recent decline in employment opportunities in Tiruchi district.Hundreds of workers from rural areas of the district, mainly from Edumalai, Thathaiyangarpettai, Gunaseelam, Manachanallur, Nochiam, Thottiam, Musiri, Samayapuram, Anbil, Pullampadi, Manapparai, Marungapuri, Vaylur, Athavathur, Thuvarankurichi and others, visit Tiruchi in search of work at construction sites. They generally assemble at 9 a.m daily at various points in different parts of the city seeking work. Depending upon the calls from engineers, builders, contractors, and individual house builders, the intermediaries arrange work for them.However, according to industry sources, nearly 50% of the casual workers return home without getting jobs. They get employment only from builders and engineers for building individual houses and apartments. They hardly get employment from contractors, who take up work for the Public Works Department, Highways, Tiruchi Corporation, and other government departments for the last few months.“We get calls for construction labourers only from engineers and builders. We don’t get offer from the contractors, who provide nearly 50% of employment opportunities to the labourers. It has really hit the livelihood of them,” says S. Arumugam, an intermediary of the construction workers in Tiruchi.Government-certified contractors echo the statement. They attribute to the slow down in awarding contracts in recent months. Except for a few, most contractors have been without work since June. There has been a paradigm shift in awarding contracts since the new government assumed office. “We welcome the steps taken by the Government to ensure transparency in awarding contracts. At the same time, we notice that the Tiruchi Corporation takes time to award new contracts. Similar is the situation in other departments as well. It has hit everyone,” says a contractor who takes up work from the Corporation.S. Sridhar, a State committee member of the CPI (M), said several projects mooted by the DMK government had been cancelled, citing lack of transparency in awarding contracts. It was a welcome move. However, most government departments, urban and rural local bodies had hardly awarded new contracts. It had made thousands of workers jobless in the district. This turned into a livelihood crisis for labourers. It had hit the money circulation as well. The State government should study the issues in detail and take remedial steps immediately. Published - November 15, 2026 08:45 pm IST