Aahar Vihaar

    This case involved the following specific complaints:

• 1. Employment   issues:     The   complaints   pointed   to   the   following   discrepancies   from contractual specifications in Vihaar Ahaar’s worker attendance records:

     • Significant variation from the skill level and number of workers stipulated in the contract

     • Lack of consistency in defining the skill level of workers, resulting in arbitrary variations in wage payments to the same worker over different months

     • Frequent  turnover   of   workers  in  large   numbers   without   any   notification  to   Institute authorities

     • Consistent replacement of local with non­local workers

  2. Wage issues:   Workers repeatedly and in detail have complained that at set times and places, representatives of M/s Vihaar Ahaar take back from them the entire amount paid to them in the minimum wage office.   Later, workers have an unofficial ‘pay day’ on which they are paid amounts ranging from Rs. 1200 – 1550 per month.

    The case was investigated by a Grievance committee formed by then Minimum Wage Monitoring Committee and its report can be accessed below:

• Report of the Grievance Committee on M/s Vihaar Ahaar

    The committee in fact made several correspondences with the institute in this regard but could hardly make them response. The committee even made a table highlighting communications made and responses received! The same can be accessed here. The same report also contains details of complaints agains the contractor in the period May 2004 to March 2007:

• • Physical Voilence: 20 incidents, Wage related: 150 incidents, Arbitrary firing: 30 incidents, Attendance tampering: 150 incidents (in just one hall, in two months), I-Card related problems: 50 incidents. 

    In spite of almost 500 incidents being put on record, the involved volunteers couldn't even elicit a response from the institute (and that when the reports were compiled by an official institute committee)!