Government introduces provisions to ensure basic housing and services to improve living conditions on sites

Conditions for Indian construction workers are to radically improve, under changes to existing laws announced this week.

The Environmental Impact Assessment, 2006 Notification, has been revised to include housing and other facilities for improving the living conditions of workers on construction sites.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests issued instructions under the notification stipulating that “housing must be provided for construction labour within the site, with all necessary infrastructure and facilities such as fuel for cooking, mobile toilets, sewage disposal facilities, safe drinking water, medical health care and crèche.”

The notification added that housing could be in the form of temporary structures, which could be removed once a project was completed.

The construction sector in India has experienced a huge boom in recent months across the country, with workers often moving whole families near to the sites at which they work, creating small communities, some of which contain their own schools.

The new provisions will ensure that basic facilities and services will now be provided.

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