New Delhi: Complaints have come to light of severe violations of Indian workers’ rights in Guyana by a private quarrying company owned by Indian entrepreneur Saju Bhaskar. According to media reports, the government of Guyana has launched an investigation into Ekaa HRIM Earth Resources Management (Ekaa), owned by Coimbatore-based Bhaskar, after 38 Indian workers came forward with the complaints.The accusations Ekaa faces range from unfair contracts to confiscation of passports of workers, denial of wages, delayed payments, duping workers regarding compensation, arbitrary salary cuts and unsafe working conditions that caused severe injury to one worker and the death of another. The charges relate to its mining operations in its Batavia, Region 7, quarry, located in Guyana’s Cuyuni-Mazaruni zone.The workers sought help after the sudden death of Indian national Sekhar Chhetri at the quarry, which they said operates in “a general environment of unaddressed workplace hazards”, reports Gyuana-based Kaieteur News (KN).Online news portal Demerara Waves reports that one of the contracts signed by an Indian who came to work at Ekaa’s quarry in Guyana required him to pay the company $3,000 in “management fees” if he was fired for breaches and poor performance.The contract, Demerara Waves reports, said the penalty would rise to $5,000 if the worker quits before completing 24 months. The contract also allowed firing without notice, making workers vulnerable to follow the unreasonable demands of the company. Workers also agreed to work 12 hours daily Monday to Saturday, possibly on public holidays, non-working days or emergencies “at the discretion of the employer”, Demerara Waves reports.KN also reports that the workers, primarily men aged 25 years and older, are demanding immediate return of their passports, payment of outstanding wages and guarantees and urgent repatriation to India. The workers say they never received a physical payslip, making it impossible for them to assess their income and deductions.During a meeting with the Acting High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Manoj Kumar, held on Monday (May 18) in light of the complaints, the company’s representative denied the charge of withholding wages. Company representatives, however, claimed the passports were being held for “security” and “safety” reasons, an explanation the workers rejected, demanding them back.The passports were returned to the workers, reported iNewsGuyana.“The [Labour] ministry’s investigation will continue and allegations relating to wages, working conditions, and the general welfare of the workers will be addressed,” it cited the ministry as saying.The company has reportedly been given a “24-hour ultimatum” to respond to the allegations by Guyana’s ministry of labour. “The Ministry is also aware of allegations concerning the reported death of a worker on May 12, 2026, which will form part of the ongoing investigation,” it reported.A team of officers from the Ministry of Labour, Guyana Police Force, Trafficking In Persons Unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs and other relevant authorities will make inquiries and assess the situation, the ministry said, according to Demerara Waves, a news portal.The company has also reportedly launched a probe into working conditions.Ekaa business in GuyanaAn undated official note about Ekaa’s quarry by the Home Ministry of Guyana says it sits on 1,089 acres of lease land, with a quarrying pit of 30 acres. It said the lease is valid for fifteen years, with the option to renew at the end of that period. “Thus far, US$10 million has been injected into Ekaa Hrim Earth Resources Management quarry and upon completion, the cost will amount to US$20 million,” says the note.An Instagram post of the quarry’s inauguration was shared by the Ministy of Natural Resources. It said the President of Guyana Dr Irfaan Ali attended the event to commission the mine, held on September 11, 2023. The commissioning ceremony was also attended by Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn and other Cabinet colleages, it said.A photograph released by the Government of Guyana from when the mines were commissioned. The inauguration was held in September 2023.At the time, Ekaa was described as “an Indian-owned company” whose mining in Batavia, Region 7, “will provide significant development to the village’s economy, its residents and their livelihoods”.As per the terms of the arrangement between the government of Guyana and Ekaa, 40% of the labour workforce was to be sourced from the village of Batavia – a remote and poorly developed region inhabited by indigenous peoples known officially in Guyana as Amerindian.The project was slated to create “hundreds of jobs for locals”, a report in Newsroom.gy said, citing the director of the company, Jesvin Pradee Kumar, in January 2023.A Guyanese note detailing Saju B’s business interests and ventures.In July 2023, during a visit to Guyana by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, he and Guyanese President Ali jointly inaugurated the first India-Guyana Chamber of Commerce. The founder and president of Texila American University Consortium, Saju Bhaskar of Ekaa, was the secretary of this chamber, and Ekaa’s Hrim Earth Resources Management Operations Director Sreebala Kumar as the joint secretary, in a press release issued by the Indo-Caribbean Society in July 2023.The Wire has written to Saju Bhaskar seeking his response to these developments. This story will be updated as a response is received.