Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, led the 38 Indian nationals at the centre of that quarry working conditions issue, in a picketing exercise outside the Labour Ministry this morning.

The workers are demanding the money owed to them, and Mr. Mohamed has accused the Labour Ministry of not pushing the issue enough.

Minister of Labour, Keoma Griffith, has announced a full multi-agency investigation into the claims of the Indian nationals who were employed at the quarry company. The foreign workers have complained about shoddy living and working conditions, low salaries and being prevented from leaving the quarry site. They were removed from the site over the weekend by the Opposition Leader after he visited the area and heard their complaints.

Today, the workers were armed with placards as they gathered with Mr. Mohamed outside the Labour MInistry.

“The Indian nationals are there three years working, they confiscated their passports when they arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, and that is illegal, that right there is human trafficking, so why up to now, they can’t arrest the owner, they cannot invite him to the station up to today. No word on Baskar. One man lost his life at that quarry, he worked and worked and worked and he lost his life on May 12 and the family is requesting that his body be returned to India so that they can bury him in his final resting place and we are not hearing anything about the man who lost his life. Another man lost four fingers because of poor safety equipment and the workers told the supervisor that they don’t feel comfortable working under the circumstances…and nothing was done”, Mohamed explained.

Mr. Mohamed said many of the workers were refused permission by the quarry company when they wanted to return to India. He said many of them have been in the employ of the company for over three years and were never allowed to return home. He said there must be a full trafficking in persons investigation as part of the probe.

Opposition Member of Parliament and Region 7 resident, Dawn Hastings-Williams said the situation points to all of the ingredients of trafficking in persons. She said the workers were being held in inhumane conditions.

“To know that that was happening is very very disturbing. And I don’t know where this is going to put Guyana in the world. Guyana is a fast growing economy and one thing is that we have oil, and billions and trillions are being spent but the sad thing in real life is what is happening here”, she said.

There have been calls for an independent investigation to take place into the operations of the quarry company and the complaints of the workers. The Ministry of Labour has indicated that other Ministries and the Police are also part of the probe. The EKAA quarry company was commissioned just over three years ago at Batavia in Region Seven.

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