Shortage of masons, labourers hit real estate developers in Pune

PUNE - A shortage of masons and skilled labourers is affecting construction industry in Pune.

All these years, a majority of this labour force used to come from the Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand but with ample opportunities in their own states, these labourers are not too keen to hop over to other places like Maharashtra in search of work.

Jaiprakash Shroff, a real estate developer, speculates that the concept of ‘development’, which was the prime agenda during the recent elections in Bihar, is the main reason for the shortage of skilled workforce.

“The numbers are less because there are growth initiatives in Bihar Jharkhand and Orissa. Government is focusing on lot of development and infrastructural development. So, these workers are getting in their own states,” said Shroff.

Shashank Paranjape, another builder, stated that social stigma is another factor for the decreasing number of labourers in the state since many prefer to take up jobs in offices.

Paranjape further said that despite availability of human resource among the residents, due to this trend of seeking jobs in office, the gap between demand and supply of manpower at construction sites is widening with each passing day.

“There is an absolute dearth of workers because construction activity is considered to be very low line. A person would rather become peon in office than working on a construction site. Therefore people are drawn more towards office jobs than the construction work,” he said.

“That is why there is a very big gap between what is available as construction labour force to what is required and as construction activities are going on in a big way therefore this gap needs to filled,” he added.

The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) has initiated various pilot projects to give extensive training to the available workers.

Bodies like Promoters and Builders Association of Pune (PBAP) and Construction Quality Rating Agency (CQRA) are being roped in to look after the pilot projects. By Shivaji Salunke (ANI)