Notwithstanding government opening up construction activity from Monday, there was hardly any work on site as material shortage, both concrete and sand, grounded the day’s operations. A chunk of builders also faced problems over accessing e-passes for their engineers to reach construction sites to commence works.
Builders Association of India state treasurer S Ramaprabhu said that availability of construction materials including cement and brick was a major challenge to resume operations. According to him, cement must be utilised within 3 months of the commodity being sent out of (cement) factories. “Otherwise, it may lose its strength. While we cannot consume the stocked cement bags manufactured before February, fresh cement was also not available in the market,” he said.
The state government allowed construction activities in urban areas, where construction labourers were staying within their site from Monday. However, these workers need to be supervised by a team of engineers, who need to obtain e-passes of commuting. “We were unable to get e-passes for many because of the surge in demand online. Not many wanted to get into trouble by stepping out without the passes as the lockdown was still in place. Moreover, guest workers are desperate to return home and retaining them is going to be a real challenge,” Ramaprabhu added.
In places where cement dealers opened their outlets, violations of social distancing norms resulted in police ordering immediate closure, manufacturers said. Many construction sites saw some migrant workers wait for directions to commence work. “We heard that there was severe crowding in some of the cement shops forcing police to shut it down. We have instructed our dealers that they must follow social distancing norms,” said A V Dharmakrishnan, Managing Director, Ramco Cements.
