ED raids: Diamond workers’ lives are stone broke

Hyderabad: They may be precious diamonds for some, but they are just useless stones for them. They work very hard to make them glitter, but their lives continue to languish in darkness. The value they give to diamonds is no way near to the value they get back in the form of wages.

Come, listen to the unbelievable story of workers of Rajiv Gems Park (Gitanjali Gems Limited’s making unit), which has been sealed by Enforcement Directorate in connection with investigation of PNB fraud. Their wages are as low as Rs 2,500 per month.

These stones get lakhs of rupees for the trader only after these workers cut them and polish them, who barter their skills for a pittance as they have to keep the wolf away from the door every day. The maximum wages that a skilled worker gets is about Rs 12,000 per month and a fresher does not get more than Rs 2,500.

But the Rajiv Gems Park gets all name and fame for the precious and fabulous diamonds that they showcase in their stores. The Park in fact has won prestigious Best Employer award for the Empowerment of ‘Persons with Disabilities’ scheme held by the Government of India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The irony is that empowerment of differently-abled means nothing but exploiting them day by day offering them the lowest possible wages. When a fresher joins the firm, he/she will be taken as a ‘trainee’ and paid only Rs 2,500. In 2006, it was even worse as trainees were paid only Rs 750 per month. The story does not end there. After a year of training also there would not be any decent pay. At the most they get a hike of about Rs 500. Similarly, their salaries will be increased a thousand rupees every year. The employees who are working for 12 years, from its inception in 2006, are getting paid Rs 12,000.

As it is a profession which cannot be learned in a regular education system, the company does not insist on educational qualification for the workers. Many of the workers are illiterate and semi-literate, who pursued till their primary school education, and hence they would not know they could demand better pay, said one employee wo has relatively better awareness of the plight they were in.

The company has employed differently-abled persons, including speech and hearing-impaired persons. As many as 240 differently-abled persons are on the rolls. Another differently abled worker, said, “The company doesn’t give any other allowance to us except a cup of tea a couple of times in a day. It doesn’t even have a canteen. We are here since we do not get any job anywhere.”

After the Enforcement Directorate shut down the park, they are at crossroads. They do not know where they should go. “I am worried about how I could make a living as I do not have any other skill,” the worker said, adding that since they were not at fault for the fraud that had taken place, the government should take the initiative and run the park so that they could get employment.

By: Kartheek B