Restoration work of Shimla's Bantony Castle starts amid lockdown
May 21, 2020
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 21 : The homeless migrant labourers hailing from different parts of the country have started renovation and restoration work of over century-old building, 'Bantony Castle', the British era building, amid the fourth phase of coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking to ANI a migrant labourer from Jharkhand, Sukhmania said,"I came here around seven months ago. We are getting work now. I'll go home when lockdown will end, I don't have enough money now".
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism department is renovating and working for conservation and rehabilitation of over 125-year-old building. The migrant labourers here want to go back home until the lockdown is opened.
The in-charge of the construction project here at the historic building restoration said that most of the migrant labourers were stranded and did not have work and now work has been started and are waiting for more relaxation in curfew so that the construction material can be supplied and a permanent job to labourers who were jobless for over almost two months now.
This is a project of over Rs 25 crore which was started in 2016.
"Due to the lockdown we have faced many problems but since we have been granted permission to resume our work, we are trying that the construction work gets back on track. We are adhering to the social distancing norms along with other precautions," said Dikshit, project In-charge.
"Now the labourers here want to work here and earn money. We are facing labour crunch but work will take some time to get back on track. Around 50 labourers are working here. We have to revise the work schedule to see how many more labourers we need here," he added.
One of the Nepalese labourer, Pradeep Bhagat who is working as stone cutting worker said, "The lack of material can hamper our work so I am looking forward to continuing the work and demand a regular supply of material as the shortage of construction material is hampering our job."
