mangaluru hit hard by shortage of skilled workers who returned to their hometowns in northern and eastern states after the lockdown was declared in march a builder in mangaluru is spending rs 2 lakh to ferry 35 workers from west bengal by road over a distance of 5000km round tripnaveen cardoza president of the mangaluru chapter of confederation of real estate developers association of india credai has sent a nonac semisleeper bus from mangaluru to bengal on july 18 to accelerate his multistorey residential project the bus is expected to bring the workers from malda district to mangaluru on july 28hundreds of labourers in the construction industry left for home states jharkhand chhattisgarh uttar pradesh and bihar besides west bengal in the wake of the covidinduced lockdown throwing construction projects in the coastal region out of geari am paying rs 2 lakh for the chartered bus this is just 10 cheaper than airfares but this will help the workers since they dont have to struggle to reach airports the bus will leave bengal on july 25 after the workers are screened for covid19 cardoza told toiearlier 10 labourers in two batches were flown to mangaluru most of them are from malda district and have to travel over 370km by road to reach kolkata airport workers from remote villages in malda expressed difficulty in reaching the airport hence we decided to send a bus this time he addedcardoza said covid protocols will be followed once the workers arrive in mangaluru and added that they have started the registration of workers on seva sindhu platform besides setting up a quarantine facility for themindustry sources said many builders are talking to contractors to bring back the workers who form nearly 90 of the constructionsector workforce