Indian quarry workers did not attend crucial meeting at labour ministry, says company

Last Updated on Thursday, 21 May 2026, 22:09 by Writer

The India-headquartered EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management on Thursday said the Indian nationals employed as labourers at the Batavia quarry in Guyana’s interior region did not show up for individual meetings at the Ministry of Labour to settle their grievances, be paid all monies due them and decide whether they want to return to India.

Neither Chief Labour Officer Aslim Singh nor Labour Minister Keoma Griffith answered calls or responded to questions sent over WhatApp.

EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management Consultant, Yoganand Persaud accused the 38 workers of remaining outside the labour ministry instead of entering to participate in individual meetings with officials and company representatives.

“The issue here are there are people who we need to deal with and they’re not coming to the ministry because we are waiting to deal with each complaint,” he said.

Mr Persaud also said the workers could not be contacted by phone and it would have been risky to engage them outside the labour ministry if company officials had opted to engage them outside the building on Brickdam.

Alleging that the workers were not receiving food, Mr Persaud publicly appealed to the Indian High Commissioner to intervene as the company did not have access to the workers. “These are Indian nationals. We don’t have access to them. I don’t think they are in the ministry or any ministry’s control or possession. They are in the control and possession of the Opposition Leader,” he said.

Asked if the workers would have to pay their own airfares, Mr Persaud vaguely referred to contracts. One of the contracts seen by Demerara Waves Online News states EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management workers would have to pay the company US$3,000 if they are terminated for breaches and poor performance, and also stand their own return travel expenses.

Mr Persaud sought to dismiss that as one of the employment contract terms.

He was also at pains to offer an explanation for the 72 hour work-week and the lumping of salary and overtime into one payment. “That is how the contract was negotiated between the parties that is what that was put to them and that is what they accepted. There was an offer and there was an acceptance,” he said.

Mr Persaud, who is a former Chief Labour Officer, said the workers’ passports were never taken away from them on arrival in Guyana.

Instead, he said they orally agreed to lodge their travel documents with management for safe-keeping.

He produced a book showing that workers periodically sign to uplift their passports to open bank accounts and conduct other transactions and then return them.

The passports were returned to the workers on Monday afternoon.

The company also provided what it said was evidence that the workers’ social security deductions were paid to the National Insurance Scheme.

The company also refuted claims that the workers were being prevented from communicating with their families in India, saying that the company is paying a large sum of money for Internet service.

EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management said food and accommodation were not substandard.

EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management declined to discuss whether compensation would be provided to a former worker who lost four fingers while on duty at the quarry. 

Meanwhile, Mr Persaud said company officials lodged a formal complaint at the Bartica Police Station alleging that Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed took the workers from the quarry site at Batavia.

“We’ve since made a report to the Bartica Police Station that they’re missing,” he said.