SHILLONG, July 2: The COVID-19 situation has affected all the projects implemented by the PWD (Building) department due to the shortage of a skilled labour force.
A majority of skilled labourers returned to their home states of Assam and Bihar in the early part of last year after the first wave of COVID-19 hit the state.
The PWD (Building) department has attempted to fill up the gap by mobilising local skilled labour force from various parts of the state without achieving noticeable success.
A senior official of the PWD (Building) department told The Shillong Times that they have been facing problems since they need skilled labourers to do specialised work such as tiling, ceiling and aluminium fittings.
Local skilled labourers did the marble work, ceiling and laying of tiles for the court building at Mawkyrwat. “We did not have any migrant skilled labourers to work on the court building since the situation was not conducive,” he said on Friday.
He added that the quality of the local skilled labourers’ work came as a surprise.
The construction of the court building had started in the last part of 2017 at an estimated cost of Rs 21 crore. The first deadline to complete it was two years.
“We are happy that the court building will finally be completed in August after it missed several deadlines due to the COVID-19 situation,” the official said.
He also said all the 120 labourers engage in the construction of the Engineering College at Mawlai are locals. “The much-anticipated college will be completed by December this year if the progress of work continues at the same pace,” he said.
According to him, most of the labourers engaged in the project at IIM Shillong are from Jaintia Hills.
The PWD official further said the department had requested and obtained permission from the East Khasi Hills district administrations to bring in around 15-20 skilled labourers from outside the state.
He said the Labour department needs to come up with training programmes to enhance the capacity of local labourers engaged in construction works.
“Even the pressure groups will not have any problem if local labourers are engaged in all the major projects since this will indirectly address the influx problem in the state,” he added.
