Industries, corporates looted for multi crores
Curious Case Of Mathadi Workers - Part- 2
Mumbai: The rags to riches story of Datta Pawar, a Mathadi worker, narrated by BJP MLA from central Nagpur Pravin Datke further shows that the industries and corporates have been looted at least for hundreds of crores and that too in the name of humble Mathadi workers toiling at times to make both ends meet.
The initial probe by the SIT also indicates at the probable modus operandi used by the officers of the Mathadi boards and their accomplices.
Maharashtra government brought in the Mathadi Hamal and Other Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Act, 1969 (generally referred to as Mathadi Act) for the welfare of manual labourers who were being exploited by the industries, corporates and commercial establishments of that time. As per the nature of work and the sector of the trade 36 Mathadi boards were constituted to ensure implementation of the act. These boards immensely helped the unprotected manual workers in their struggle to regulate employment terms, welfare facilities and health and safety measures.
However, though this model is considered ideal for replication for other workers in the unorganised sector, many a times industries appear demanding exemption from the Act. That is because of rampant corruption has riddled the system. There had been several cases and in 2018 a special committee too had been appointed to study the workings of these boards and make suggestions to rectify their methods. However, the new case that MLA Datke indicated in his speech at the legislature appears to be much larger in scope and quantum.
While the previous cases of corruptions were limited to generally one board and few groups of Mathadi workers, the new case seems to have spread across multiple Mathadi boards like Transport, Textile, Iron & Steel, Railway Goods, Metal and Paper etc. While many of the earlier cases involved manipulation of number of workers, amount of work carried out by them etc. the new methods surpass them in multiple terms.
The cases mentioned by the MLA in the legislature involve multiple crimes like cheating, forgery of documents, demanding money without carrying out work and threatening or cancelling the registration of companies, charging arbitrarily high rates and forcing companies to appoint favoured Mathadi groups for their work etc.
One of the classic example involves India’s largest fully integrated logistics services provider Delhivery.com. Documents in possession of the Iron and Steel Board show that the company entered into an agreement with the famous furniture store chain IKEA and for the additional work they sought to appoint the Mathadi group (No. 463). Interestingly, the said agreement of the company with IKEA attached with their application, does not have any signatures at all. Moreover, the signature of the company’s authorised signatory on the other letter written to the secretory of the Metal and Paper Market Workers Board matches the signature on one of the PAN cards involved in the case of two PAN cards in the name of one person which the Thane sessions court has asked the police to investigate. The Mathadi group which is recommended in the letter stating that they be assigned the additional work, works under Datta Pawar’s brother Kamlesh Bhaleghare. A complaint has been filed in this case wherein the complainants have claimed that the documents involved in the case have been forged.
In another case involving the same Mathadi group, the rates of unloading of 40 ft containers is quoted to be Rs 56,000 and that of transfer is quoted to be Rs 36,000. In reality, as per the Mathadi Act, these rates are just around Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000 respectively.
The case of yet another company Jay Enterprises is also very interesting. There it becomes very clear as to how the dubious elements in disguise of Mathadi workers are acting against the genuine workers. A company named Jay Engineering, involved in redevelopment of slums, rightfully presented their application to the Mathadi board to register two Mathadi groups with them.
However, the board arbitrarily rejected their application on the same day and directly registered another Mathadi group to work with the company. Also, within a month the new group was also granted the police protection even though the company had not demanded it.
This misuse of provision of police protection indicates that many others are also involved in this corrupt game.
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