‘If people ask us what we did, we can say we built the Parliament’
In the hours before the country would wake up to a new Parliament building, several pairs of hands worked furiously — the red sandstone tiles on the walls got a final scrub, the pruning shears gave the shrubs a quick haircut and the smallest of chipped tiles got instant attention.
For over two years now, thousands of labourers have been working behind giant green corrugated tin curtains to bring to life one of the biggest projects of the Narendra Modi government — a new, modern Parliament building that the Prime Minister will inaugurate on Sunday.
Twenty Opposition parties have announced their decision to boycott the event, saying the PM’s “decision to inaugurate the new Parliament building by himself, completely sidelining President (Droupadi) Murmu, is not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy”. However, others, including non-NDA parties like the JD(S), BSP and TDP, have opposed the boycott and are expected to attend the inauguration.
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Away from the political rancor that has marked the event, labourers and their supervisors — 60,000 of them, on- and off-site, according to the government — have been quietly working to get the building ready for the big day.
On Saturday, a day before the inauguration, the entire complex stands cordoned off, with only specially screened cars — VIPs, security personnel, police and other staff — being allowed through boom barriers.
The old Parliament House stands quietly, gracefully, while the action has shifted to the brand-new triangular structure across the road. A white tent, to the left of the Mahatma Gandhi statue, has been erected for Sunday’s event. Barricades have come up at Iron Gate 8, through which labourers stream in and out.
Arun, 40, a mason from Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior, says that over the last couple of years, he has been working 12 hours a day, earning around Rs 17,000 a month. “Work is almost 99 per cent complete… We worked 24×7 in two shifts… we didn’t stop even during the pandemic,” he says.
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It started with a phone call he got in February 2021, he recalls. “They asked me if I could work in Delhi on the Parliament building. I couldn’t have been happier. Who would want to miss such an opportunity?.”
Imran, 24, a worker from Bihar, says scaffolding work is still on in some parts of the building and that it would take a few more months before it’s completed. Ramdin Dagar, another worker from MP, says most of the work inside the building is done except for some furnishing that is needed in a few chambers. “Ek dum jannat (It’s just heaven),” Naresh, a mason from MP, chimes in, smiling broadly.
For all their hard work, sweat and calloused hands, for Arun, Imran, Naresh and the others, it was the role they played in building a part of history that they will carry away with them. “The work was gruelling, but if people ask us what we did, we can say we built the Parliament building, that too in two years,” says Ram Murti, who is from Morena, adding, “We have seen the whole building coming up in front of our eyes.”
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As three road rollers rumble along, a group of workers give finishing touches to patches of the stretch outside Sansad Bhavan.
Akash Kumar, 20, a worker from Bihar who is part of a group laying asphalt, says, “We have been working for 5-6 days for more than 15 hours. Some days, we were asked to work for more than that. Now that the roads inside the complex are paved, there is time to breathe.”
His colleague Sohit Kumar Sharma, 27, says, “Yesterday we slept for just two hours. Desh ke liye itna toh karna padega (This is the least we can do for the country). We are not going to sit inside the Parliament building, par achha lagta hai (but it feels good).”
Akash and Sohit say that though they had been hired for two days, the road-laying work had stretched on for five, and 100 more workers were called in. “On top of it, it was raining today and the entire work got delayed. There is a lot of pressure to complete the work in time for the inauguration,” says Sohit.
After two years of hard work, Arun knows he won’t get to see the building when it’s finally inaugurated on Sunday. But he is not complaining. “There are thousands of workers. It is impossible to permit all of them on the premises,” he says.
The hands that build come with a big heart.
Source: The Indian Express
