Chennai Metro Rail construction sites face worker shortage

The Chennai Metro Rail continues to grapple with nearly 40% shortage of workers at the construction sites of its ongoing ₹63,246-crore phase II project.

The Chennai Metro Rail continues to grapple with nearly 40% shortage of workers at the construction sites of its ongoing ₹63,246-crore phase II project.

To build the 118.9-km network with three corridors — Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3), Light House to Poonamallee (corridor 4), and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5) — thousands of workers from States including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh have been at work in the city for the last couple of years. 

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the problem of worker shortage began in April this year when many of them left for their hometowns to cast their votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “We expected them to return by the end of May or early in June. But many of them still have not returned to the project sites. We have pushed the contractors as much as possible to find new workers and bring them to the city, but they have managed to do it only to some extent,” an official said.

Initially, one contractor brought some of the workers by flight and the others got them to the city by train. “But it is still not sufficient. There is a shortage of about 40% workers,” the official said.

Officials said that the number of workers was grossly inadequate along the elevated stretch in a portion of corridor 5. “For now, our priority is opening Poonamallee-Porur (part of corridor 4) next year and hence, we have mobilised maximum workers for this stretch. There are no issues along this stretch,” another official said.

But sources said the number of workers was far from adequate on this stretch as well, and it would be very challenging to finish the work by the end of next year. The elevated corridors need more workers than the underground network, they added.

“The workers who used to work here are now able to find jobs in the Metro Rail and other infrastructure projects in the northern and central parts of the country, and they find it convenient to travel between work and home,” one of the officials said.