People of Value

Anand Kumar

Anand Kumar is an average Indian, struggling 16 hours a day to eke out a living. He runs a small paan shop on a regular busy road in the Capital. Apart from his day-to-day struggle, there’s something that makes him stand out in a crowd. Anand is a strong-willed man who does not believe in giving up his rights easily. In the last 15 years, he has been fighting a case against state giant Ircon International Limited to set things right.

Although physically challenged, Anand always dreamt of making it big in life. He came to Delhi from Bihar in 1988 and was employed as a contract security guard by IRCON.

Chander Bhan Sharma, the contractor paid him Rs 500 per month. However, Sharma was not ‘licensed’ as stipulated by government rules. Nobody really bothered about the details then. Sharma passed away and his wife took over the business.

After a few years of service, the contracted employees started demanding parity with IRCON employees in terms of payment and benefits. That’s when problems started brewing up.

IRCON officials started terminating workers’ job arbitrarily. Some of them were even sacked on verbal orders. “We feared going to office every day. We were even prepared to be turned away from the gates unexpectedly”.

The management of IRCON changed the contractor and awarded the contract to another company called Guardex. Finally, the employees approached the High Court.

The High Court gave a stay on the matter and ordered IRCON to pay salaries to ten security guards without “Prejudice to their rights”. IRCONS started on record that the workers were never part of their organization and they nothing to do with them.

The court case dragged for about to years but the stay order ensured that jobs were safe.

However, the big blew came in 2002, when a Supreme Court judgment on a case on the same lines against employees of Steel Authority went against them. The stay order on the case was lifted and the management was quick to scoop in. All the contracted workers lost their jobs.

“I had to start this paan shop for survival. I have my mother and widowed sister at look after. Out of the 12 workers who approached the court, only three are still fighting the case in the labour court. I used to earn Rs 2,600 per month when I lost my job. I want my job back,” says Anand.

Anand Kumar has been fighting a case against IRCON for the last 15 years.

Source: 15-year fight for Rs 2,600 job. He says it’s worth it. Metro Now, Daily, New Delhi 3 May 2007.

Top

Rani Verma

Rani Verma 14, lost her both arms in an accident six years back. This year when she appeared in the high school examination from science stream, she was happy she did not get any special treatment, for she wrote with her feet and finished her papers in three hours. Rani wants to be an engineer and build big dams, bridges and skyscrapers. Rani is fond of reading books on Physics and Chemistry, and proudly says that she does not want admission in an engineering college through reservation.

She lives in Dallipur village in the Badagoan development block.

Source: Lost arms, she wrote exams with her feet. The Hindustan Times, Daily, New Delhi, 8 May 2007.

Top