Saturday, August 04, 2012

BCCL: DHANBAD

BCCL township have undergone paradigm shift in the last four decades, but not all is well. Gyanendra Kumar Kashyap reports… 

Things have certainly changed. I remember when I last visited the township in March 2005, there were no security guards and the mere presence of them near the entrance instilled in me the question of Naxalism and its allied threats. Sukhdev Prasad, a retired CISF personnel, shares his views, “There are no threats from Naxals. But BCCL has taken the necessary precautions as there have been some alarming cases of burglary in the township.”

All seemed well so far. But an unexpected interaction with a trade union leader provided me with a contrarian view. “As an employee, I am happy that my salary has increased seven-fold in the last 14 years but (he claimed he speaks for the workers) a number of decisions of the government have been superfluous and fabricated,” he said. He went on to add that there is a manpower deficit (he said that the total employee strength is 70,000 as against the mandated figure of 170,000) and that contractual labour constitutes more than 50% of the workforce. He continued that the physical infrastructure needs to be taken care of while medical facilities need further improvement. But he also agreed that he has seen the aspiration levels of people around him increasing over the last decade and a half, and that that is a good sign.

Lives have definitely changed in the last 40 years, but there is a disgruntled lot that BCCL needs to do its bit to assuage. And that lot doesn’t need much to become satisfied.


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