‘Unpaid wages, searing heat, long hours’: why workers are quitting the world’s largest renewable energy park

A month into his new job at the world’s largest renewable energy park in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, Anawar Alam was planning his escape. Hired along with 17 others who had travelled with him to work on the construction of a solar project, Alam had hoped that the promised pay and perks would support his family back home on the farm in Bihar. But within two weeks he was having second thoughts. “Nothing really prepared us for where we would be working or the fact that it was so far from the nearest village. The work was strenuous, the shifts were 12 hours, and we were living in makeshift tents,” says Alam. “It was incredibly hot, and the contractor kept yelling at us for not working longer or harder, threatening us by saying that he would kill us and no one would even know we had disappeared. But the bigger problem was that he was not paying us on time or in full.” Alam is one of thousands of young migrant workers who are signing up to work in the remote, salty marshland of Kutch district. Drawn largely from the hinterlands of Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they arrive in their hundreds to work on the construction of solar projects, encouraged by contractors who promise good wages, facilities and steady employment. However, for many of the men, mostly in their 20s, the job is short-lived, as they say a complex chain of subcontracting results in long delays in payment, harsh living conditions with little access to power, clean drinking water and other amenities. Workers say that as a result, most return home after a few months, losing wages and opportunities in a sector that is seen as key to creating green jobs. “There have been a few complaints, and we have immediately taken action,” says a senior official at the labour department of Bhuj city in Kutch, who requested anonymity. “We encourage workers to report wage theft and other issues. But not many come forward given that most are migrant workers.” Migrant workers are often not familiar with the place they migrate to work and are unaware of complaint procedures. In addition, language can be a barrier and if they have returned to their home states, they may be unable to travel back and forth to pursue their case. Alam, 22, and his co-workers say they raised complaints with the company’s on-site engineers. When there was no response, he asked his father to send him 30,000 rupees (£250). He then made a series of trips out of the heavily guarded facility with his co-workers, who had travelled with him and also wanted to leave, temporarily housing them in Khavda village. Once all the men were out, he hid in a vehicle leaving the energy park, rejoined the others and returned home. “Not only did I not earn anything, but I also ended up borrowing money from my father to escape,” says Alam. In 2023, India had an estimated 1.02m renewable energy jobs, with hydropower taking the lion’s share, employing 453,000 people, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (Irena) annual review 2024. By 2030, India aims to train and up-skill more than 300,000 workers to support the installation, maintenance and operation of solar infrastructure across the country, including planned large solar parks and rooftop installations. While the solar power systems are being built by some of India’s largest companies, there is little or no accountability, as most hire recruitment agencies, who in turn hire labour contractors, rights campaigners say. Besides the energy park at Khavda, a number of other solar projects are being built by a largely migrant workforce as they race to meet India’s renewable energy goal of 500GW from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. “This vast labour force coming to construct renewable energy projects is not recognised as ‘solar labour’ but just as general construction workers,” says Anuj (who did not want to give his surname) a research fellow at the Centre for Energy, Environment and People (Ceep), a nonprofit that works on energy justice for communities. “It is a completely unregulated sector from a labour point of view. There is a new and complex network of solar contractors, engineers and workers developing. The sector is new but those running it are coming from old systems, bringing with them exploitative labour practices.” Arpit Sharma, CEO of the Skill Council for Green Jobs under India’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, says: “At present, these jobs attract a lot of migrant workers, but the space is not regulated. We are recommending that it is done soon so that these jobs become more sustainable for workers.” Officials declined to comment on whether labour issues had affected completion dates, with most stating that “delays could be attributed to many factors and labour was just one of them”. *** Khavda is the last village on the road from Bhuj to the Rann of Kutch. En route, one road leads to the ancient city of Dholavira, a Unesco world heritage site that is home to one of the two largest Harappan civilisation sites in India. It connects to the “road to heaven”, a scenic highway that attracts thousands of tourists. The other road out of Khavda leads to the Border Security Force post in Kotada, the last outpost beyond which lies the Rann of Kutch and the renewable energy park. The park is a hybrid project combining solar and wind power generation with a planned capacity of 30GW. When completed in 2028, it is expected to power about 18m homes and offset 58m tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Six developers have been allotted land on the site to develop renewable energy, including the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Gujarat Industries Power Company and Adani Green Energy. Spread over 72,400 hectares (180,000 acres), the project is under various stages of construction, with each developer bringing its own engineers and workers on site. Labour contractors say delays in clearing bills affects wages being paid on time. They say their contracts give little leeway, with 10% of the payment from the energy companies being held for a year after completion of work as surety, and money being released in phases that don’t coincide with worker’s paydays. Many have refused to supply labour to the Khavda project, citing lack of amenities for workers, the heavy financial burden on contractors and harsh working conditions. Sumer Singh, 30, who runs a small recruitment company, says: “Earlier, companies built labour colonies for the workers to stay on site but it proved too expensive for them. So now the labour contractor must help them rent homes in nearby villages or provide makeshift accommodation on site. “For small contractors, these are prohibitive costs.” Many contractors say they are held accountable by workers in case of delays or other concerns not being addressed quickly enough. “If one worker has a problem and packs up his bags to return home, everyone from that group goes back,” says a contractor at Kotada. The Gujarat Power Corporation, which oversees the energy park, and Solar Energy Corporation of India did not respond to repeated requests for comment. *** Open vehicles carrying workers and supplies from Khavda start arriving at Kotada border post early in the morning. Long queues snake along the road leading to document verification windows for all men and materials entering the park, a 30-minute drive further into the Rann. “For the hundreds that arrive here every day, there are hundreds who leave also,” says Jesanguhai Ranabhai, the sarpanch [village head] of Khavda. Sikander Kumar, a worker from Godda district, Jharkhand, arrived with 25 others to work for 900 rupees a day, more than his small patch of land was yielding back home. “The work was not bad, the food was OK, though we would have frequent issues getting clean drinking water,” he says. “There was no power supply to where we were staying, and we were not being paid full salaries. We migrated so far from home for money and if we don’t get it, what is the point?” Kumar and his group left after two months, walking more than 12 miles (20km) to find transport to take them to the station to catch a train home. Their return trip was funded by their families. Now Kumar must pay some of the workers who left their villages on his assurance for their losses. “I have to pay back 40,000 rupees and, more importantly, rebuild trust with them,” he says. Similarly, Alam was summoned by his village council and asked to pay workers he had convinced to go along with him. Alam sold part of his family land to raise 200,000 rupees (£1,700), and now works as a tailor. “We thought we would earn more in solar, save and improve our lives. The opposite happened,” Alam says. “We lost on all fronts. “Now we are back home and there is no way to complain or follow up on the wages we lost and the additional money we spent for our return. All our calls are going unanswered.” Anuradha Nagaraj is an independent journalist and co-founder of the Migration Story where a version of this story first appeared