Caught between law and violation

CHENNAI: A day after civic authorities sealed 25 buildings in T Nagar, a nondescript 700-sq ft room off the Madley Road subway had most of its residents in on Tuesday. There were about 60 of them, all male employees of a sealed showroom, moving around in their lungis and watching television, almost enjoying a compulsory holiday.
"Our owner has told us shops will reopen in a day or two.He is sending us meals and we have nothing to worry about," said one of them. What they didn't know was that around the same time the Madras high court was further tightening the case against shops like theirs, pulling up civic officials for not acting tough enough on buildings that violated rules. They obviously didn't know that they will not return to their shop in a day or two, and that the building may be razed. The shops sealed on Monday together had more than 10,000 workers.
In all, There are more than 75,000 of them in T Nagar, housed in coop-like structures, some above the swanky showrooms and some others tucked away in the dingy alleys. Clad in decent uniforms, they usher in customers to the glitzy commercial hub of the city. After having seen off the last customer with a courteous 'vanakkam,' they return to these living quarters to change into lungis and vests, eat a frugal dinner and squeeze themselves into one of the tin cots that line the rooms in tiers three or more. Here, in this room off Madley Road subway, some had brought cardboard sheets for padding on their metal cots. There is a women's quarters next door, cordoned off with a large iron shutter and manned by a warden.
They are among the thousands of men and women from smaller towns such as Tirunelveli and Tuticorin working as salespersons, security personnel and allied staff at showrooms on Usman Road and Ranganathan Street. Some of them have been living in this dormitory for more than seven years. There are no paid leaves, no work contracts. Some of them had come responding to advertisements the showrooms had placed in newspapers. Some others were brought here by agents who get Rs 1,000 per head as commission from the employer. "There are agents who bring these workers from across the country, sometime as far as Nepal," said a trader.
With about Rs 5,000 as monthly salary and commission on sales, the workers manage to save something to send home, as the employer provides shelter and food. For someone like the youngster watching television in the Madley Road dormitory, the ground reality could be devastating. He sends Rs 5,000 to his parents in Tirunelveli every month. He is yet to get the October salary. It's not clear if he has grasped the situation, but he sounds optimistic when he says, "If this showroom shuts down, the owner will place us at one of the other branches."
The owners are not so hopeful. "I am yet to pay my employees their salaries for October. If the shop is brought down, I won't be able to keep them," said the owner of a textile showroom.