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G. Naga Sridhar

Hyderabad, Nov. 6 Shortage of construction workers is slowing down the industry growth in metros and major cities across the country.

The findings of a study on the availability of skilled manpower in various sectors Commissioned by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) also confirmed the alarming trend, Mr B. Santhanam, Chairman, Taskforce on Skills, Employability & Affirmative Action, told Business Line here.

“As per our feedback from the industry circles, many major projects and capex programmes are getting delayed between 12 and 18 months in major industry belts across the country albeit there is no complete stoppage of work,” Mr Santhanam said.

“The progress of our own expansion at Saint-Gobain is also tardy and behind schedule due to non-availability of workers,” said Mr Santhanam, who is also the Managing Director of Saint-Gobain.

The study, conducted by ICRA Management Consulting Services Ltd (iMacs) for CII, also points out that the construction sector would account for over one-fourth of new jobs to be created in next eight years.

Places such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad were witnessing paucity of construction workers on considerable scale, he added.

The experts at National Academy of Construction (NAC) too agree that the shortage of labour has become an issue for the construction industry in the metros and other big towns.

“Though it is difficult to pinpoint the quantum of loss for industry due to shortage of construction workers.

Many big contractors and infrastructure development firms are approaching us on the issue,” said a NAC official.

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