Rains, recession, automation lead to job drought at Ahmedabad’s labour nakas

Even as thousands of informal-sector workers struggle amid the construction slowdown in Gujarat, the government spent less than 20% of its labour cess funds for workers’ welfare last year

Bansari Kamdar

Young labourers wait at Gurukul naka, hoping to be hired for the day’s work as dawn breaks at the labour market in Ahmedabad. Bansari Kamdar/The Migration Story 

AHMEDABAD, Gujarat: Every morning at 7 o’clock, Jitubhai Somdhi walks to the Gurukul labour centre or kadia naka, one of Ahmedabad’s roughly 100 informal labour markets, to seek work for the day. This year, his average has been a mere seven to 10 days per month. In June, as the monsoon set in across Gujarat, he worked for only three days and earned 3,000 rupees, less than a third of his pre-Covid-19 income.

The pandemic was one of the factors that broke the back of the informal labour sector, and its effects continue even after the lockdown. “We used to get work for at least 20 days every month before Covid,[1] [O2] ” said Somdhi, a 50-year-old construction worker from Gujarat’s eastern city of Dahod who has worked in the sector since 2009. “Now no one is interested in hiring us.”

Every single day, Somdhi waits at the Gurukul naka till 11 am but often returns home empty-handed. At other nakas in the city, some labourers wait till noon while others stand there all day, hoping to be hired. “More than half go back dejected,” said Somdhi.

According to Aajivika Bureau, a non‑profit that works with migrant workers in Gujarat and Rajasthan, Ahmedabad’s nakas attract between 150 and 1,500 labourers each. Most are employed for between five and 25 days a month, depending on skill, gender, access to technology and demand.

“Most of the workers are temporary or seasonal migrants from Gujarat’s tribal belt and nearby states like Rajasthan,” said Saloni Mundra, an executive with Aajivika. “They get wages for short- or medium-term work. Contractors hire them for specific projects, often paying them slightly more than what onsite long-term labourers earn.”

After the pandemic, Ahmedabad rapidly transformed into an infrastructure hub, driven by metro expansions, industrial growth, and its aspirations to host the 2036 Olympics. However, the recent slowdown in the city’s real estate sector has adversely hit employment for informal construction labourers.  

According to a local media story, the latest Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority (GujRERA) report indicates a prolonged downturn in the state's housing market. The number of newly constructed residential units has fallen from 0.323 million in 2017-18 to 0.199 million in 2024-25, and investment slid from 83,963 crore rupees to 78,944 crore rupees over the same time frame. 

The recession has been compounded by delays in civil projects and poor planning which have left many workers who rely on seasonal employment idle. For example, many government-funded flood mitigation projects under the Ahmedabad municipal corporation, which were expected to generate pre-monsoon employment in 2025, were reported to be only 1% to 30% complete by May. 

Rameshbhai, a construction contractor at the naka in Naroda, pointed out that contractors themselves had been hit by the recession in the construction sector for the last two years. “How do I hire people when I am not getting work myself?” he asked.

Another reason for the bleak job scenario is that automation is gradually replacing manual labour. The growing use of heavy construction equipment such as cranes, excavators, concrete mixers and loaders has hurt the demand for some manual labour roles, especially unskilled tasks like digging or carrying materials, according to the workers.

Kantibhai, a 60-year old construction labourer who has been working in the sector for three decades, told The Migration Story that the going was tough because of this. “I used to climb five floors with bricks on my back but machines have replaced many of us,” he said. “We are barely getting by. I don’t make even 10,000 rupees a month now.”

Kantibhai, 60, alongside other labourers at the Thaltej naka in Ahmedabad, waiting in the early hours for potential work. Bansari Kamdar/The Migration Story

According to Rameshbhai, another factor hampering the availability of work in the construction sector and adjacent lines of work is the monsoon. For one, rains cripple and waterlog the labour hotspots, making it difficult for the workers to access them. Also, much of the city’s monsoon infrastructure such as drainage, road-widening and storm relief overlooks the informal markets entirely.

“When it rains, we have no place to hide. I usually stand under the bridge but get drenched nonetheless,” said Kaluram, 42, from Banswara, Rajasthan. Added Kantibhai, “If we work for two hours and it suddenly rains, some contractors don’t even pay.”

The monsoon‑linked job loss is much worse for women. “In this reduced job market, if there is one job available, it’s male workers who are prioritised since women are not seen as karigars (skilled workers),” said Aajivika’s Mundra. “Also, migrants who come with their families often have to live in open spaces such as footpaths, where the monsoon adds to women’s burdens: they must shelter their home, clean up the rain damage and so on. They become too busy with household chores to work outside.”

If women are hired, it is usually as “helpers” of their male counterparts rather than skilled workers. The pay reflects this: for instance, while the men from the Akhbar Nagar naka earn 700 to 1,000 rupees per day, women earn just 400 to 500 rupees, workers said. Forty-year-old Hansaben, a mason of ten years, pointed out that women also struggle to negotiate wages in the male‑dominated naka and often rely on men to do this for them.

Hansaben walks to Akhbar Nagar naka daily but finds it harder every year to find work. “Who will hire us as karigars?” she asked. “Be it summer or monsoon, we are not getting jobs anymore.”

Female labourers sit on the footpath, away from men, at the Akhbar Kadia naka in Ahmedabad.

Bansari Kamdar/The Migration Story

Kaluram, a construction worker, has been coming to the Gurukul naka to find work for the last three to four years—he was earlier an on-site worker for seven years. Kaluram said it was tough to live on a construction site, since most were unclean and mosquito-riddled. “With naka work, we can at least live where we want,” he said. The naka’s obvious drawback, he added, was job security—he has been employed only eight to 15 days per month since he became a naka worker.

The lack of facilities such as shelters and toilets at nakas continues to remain a big problem. “There is no washroom,” Kaluram said. “If we go to the garden behind the naka, locals throw stones at us.” There are paid public toilets near some nakas but these are too expensive for the workers.

According to Aajivika’s Mundra, the Gujarat government has built shramik suvidha kendras or worker facility centres at only four nakas. The centres, built in 2024, have a canopy where  workers can get protection from the city’s scorching heat or rain and washrooms. “Whether we get work or not is a matter of destiny but we are grateful that we at least have a place where we can sit,” said Bharatbhai, a construction worker at Naroda’s kadia naka.

However, there are some issues with the centres, added Bharatbhai. “While there is a tap for filtered water, the tank is not cleaned,” he said. “The toilets are often locked after 10 am to prevent outsiders from using them. The canopy too is thin and cannot really protect us from the rain or sun.”

Food facilities are more universal than shelters and toilets. The government, through its shramik annapurna kendras or worker food centres provides subsidised food at over 90 nakas across the city. The meal, costing five rupees, often consists of rice, rotis, two vegetables and a weekly helping of dessert. “This is often the only full meal many of us have in the day,” Bharatbhai said, adding that he looks forward to the sweet dish. 

Shramik Annapurna Kendra at Gurukul naka in Ahmedabad, that serves subsidised meals to the informal workers. Bansari Kamdar/The Migration Story

At the Gurukul naka, nearly 500 workers gather each morning, but only half of them opt for the low‑cost meal, a server at that particular annapurna kendra said. Aajivika’s senior associate Panna Lal Meghwal told The Migration Story that some migrant labourers did not find the food to their liking. “While the workers pay five rupees, the government pays the supplier, Akshaya Patra, 60 rupees per plate,” he said. “Why can’t the government directly transfer that sum, which is almost 1,800 rupees a month, to workers who are registered so that they can get food they like?” 

There are other funds that could come in handy for workers but are not being used. India's Building and Other Construction Workers Act mandates a labour cess of 1% to 2% on construction projects to provide for a welfare fund for workers. Yet, till March 31, 2024, Gujarat had spent just 1,012.22 crore rupees against its total labour cess funds collection of 5,549.46 crore rupees, with 4,537.24 crore rupees remaining in its balance.

This information was given to the Rajya Sabha by minister of state for labour and employment Sushri Shobha Karandlaje in response to a question. Across India, of the 1.12 trillion rupees collected as labour cess, less than half had been utilised so far for the labourers, she added.

Meanwhile, as the monsoon draws to a close, Somdhi, Bharatbhai, Kantibhai, Kaluram and Hansaben continue to queue at the nakas around Ahmedabad, drawing on their dwindling savings and hoping for some work to come their way.

Bansari Kamdar is an independent journalist and researcher based in India. She has earlier worked for Reuters News as its Europe, Middle East, and Africa editor, and also worked with BBC World, The Boston Globe, The Diplomat and World Politics Review, among other publications. Her reporting focuses on the intersections of economy, labour and gender.

(Edited by Radha Rajadhyaksha)