CCCL Hexaware: further data collection: by Vipul
From Cmi Spark
Bodhayan, Bhanukiran, Anirbit and I went today (January 27th) to collect further data for the CCCL Hexaware project. We talked to the safety engineer and with his help, collected some data. He has asked us to be back by 6:30 p.m. In this wiki article, I chronicle our experiences and the data we collected.
Contents |
Fixing up the meeting
Bodhayan makes the move
Around 4:30 p.m., Bodhayan came to the lab and asked me to come for collecting further information and talking to the workers. He said that he and Bhanukiran planned to go. I located Anirbit and asked him if he is interested in coming. He initially seemed reluctant but then decided to come. I returned to the computer lab after asking Bodhayan to get Bhanukiran.
I called up Mr. Rajesh, the safety in-charge of the construction plant, whose phone number Jayanth had earlier taken for further queries (during the earlier visit to the project office). He asked us to come around any time and he would help us collect the data.
We troop to the CCCL Hexaware project site
Bodhayan, Bhanukiran, Anirbit and I trooped to the CCCL Hexaware project site. Ritwik (who has not so far been actively involved with Spark) also accompanied us. We reached the project office and asked for Mr. Rajesh. The peopel at the project office appeared confused. I realized that there were possibly many Rajeshes, and I asked for the safety in-charge. A gleam of recognition showed itself on one of the person's faces -- safety Rajesh, he said, and promptly called up safety Rajesh, who was somewhere else in the construction site.
We talk to Mr. Rajesh
Mr. Rajesh led us to a small room and asked us how he may assist us. I told him the kind of questions that we would like answered (similar to those listed at the end of the write-up of the January 23 meeting.
He said that the project office does not have well-collated data but the TIME office has a list of how many workers are there. As a rough estimate, he indicated that 500 people had reported for labour work today. He explained that a lot of the labour, particularly carpenters, comes from local people, but that the people living in the tin sheds provided by CCCL also provide a sizeable chunk.
He also told us that many of the Telugu people had gone home for Pongal holidays, and the full strength, once they are back on Monday, will be around 750.
We visit the TIME office
The TIME office, located next to the gate, was not open in full strength but there was an assistant there, who showed us the register for the day. Tallying up the number of people who had turned up today, we found that 550 labourers had turned up that day.
Mr. Rajesh then suggested that two of us accompany him in a house-to-house survey of the place to figure out details of who are the kids interested. Bhanukiran and I decided to be the two.
We go to the labourers
Mr. Rajesh took us around to the area where the construction workers were staying. We talked to some people and found that there were a few children from Jharkand, some from Bengal/Orissa and many from Andhra.
Mr. Rajesh was collecting data by going from tin shed to tin shed and calling to the workers. He would often start out by trying Hindi/Tamil and then figure out the language that the labourers knew.
The construction workers didn't exactly seem excited about our presence but they did appear curious and were talking among themselves as we moved along.
After collecting some preliminary data, Mr. Rajesh suggested that we return after 6:30, by which time most of the workers would be back at home (the day-shift ends at 6:30). We agreed.
We thanked Mr. Rajesh and he commended our efforts.
Other miscellaneous facts gathered
- I asked Mr. Rajesh how these laboureres were recruited. Mr. Rajesh replied that CCCL is not directly involved with recruitment and gives it out to sub-contractors who have contacts in various villages. Most of the peopel come from a vilalge group which has been got by a sub-contractor. I asked him whether we can collect some organized data from the sub-contractor, to which Mr. Rajesh replied that contacting the sub-contractors would again take some time.
- Mr. Rajesh also pointed out to us that the project office had been making efforts to improve the living standards of the construction workers. Toilets, dustbin and water facilities had been provided. However, maintaining cleanliness had been a problem because of a poor level of understanding with the workers. On Monday, the task of maintaining the cleanliness of the tin sheds would be formally handed over to a professional agency.
- Mr. Rajesh said that he used a mix of Tamil/Hindi to communicate with the workers, and also that there were a few people in the project office who knew Telugu and a few who knew Bengali/Oriya, and these people carried out the more intricate of the communications.
The next part
We go again
This time, Bhanukiran, Anirbit and I went. Bhanukiran naturally had the role of the Telugu interpreter, Anirbit had the role of the Bengali/Oriya interpreter, and I would play the role of the person noting down and also as an additional help. We found Mr. Rajesh in his office. He talked to the DCM once again about our plans and the DCM gave us the go-ahead.
We start off with some Telugus
Our first potential customers were located in the Telugu area.
