India's JMC staff go on second hunger strike

Labourers working on the flats being built in Hulhumale Phase II by India's JMC are on hunger strike again.

Some 2,000 JMC workers have been on strike for two days. Some of them told Atoll Times that they are on strike because their meals are being prepared using contaminated food items.

Rahul, who spoke on behalf of the Indian workers there, said they are fed rotten food. He said the food prepared there "cannot be eaten by animals”.

They showed the rotten vegetables to the Atoll Times team who went to the JMC site. They showed the meals that had been cooked two days earlier, but are still being served.

Rahul said the employees were threatened with being sent back to India if they shared their grievances with the supervisors, so they were forced to go on strike.

However, the story of the Indian workers is completely different from that of a Bangladeshi working there. The man said the workers were on strike because their meals had changed. He does not believe that they are unhappy because of the food quality.

The Bangladeshi employee said the chicken and rice are good. He showed the Atoll Times team the frozen chicken brought for them, which has its expiration date next year, but the vegetables were rotten.

The Bangladeshi could not speak further as the Indian workers expressed their displeasure when he spoke differently to the media.

This is not the first time JMC employees have gone on strike. They last went on strike in March over the quality of food and their living conditions.

State-run Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation (FDC) is building 4,000 housing units in Hulhumale Phase II under the Gedhoruveriya scheme. All the housing units will be completed in 2025, the housing ministry had earlier said.

The 4,000 housing units are being constructed through Indian loans and by two Indian companies.

These housing units include: