24-Hour Ultimatum: Ministry Launches Full Probe into Indian Quarry Workers’

By| Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News|

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – The Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning has launched a sweeping, multi-agency investigation into Ekaa HRIM Earth Resources Management following horrific allegations of forced labor, starvation, and human trafficking at its Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) quarry.

In a decisive move on Monday, a high-level joint task force—comprising labor officers, the Guyana Police Force, and the specialized Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Unit—was mobilized to the job site. The state’s aggressive intervention has forced the India-headquartered mining company onto the defensive, resulting in an immediate 24-hour ultimatum and the forced return of seized documentation.

The Diplomatic Intervention and Passport Seizure

The crisis prompted an emergency diplomatic meeting on Monday. Labour Minister Keoma Griffith met face-to-face with the Acting Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Manoj Kumar, before conducting rigorous, separate hearings with the aggrieved Indian laborers and senior executives of Ekaa HRIM.

At the absolute forefront of the probe was the illegal confiscation of the foreign nationals’ travel documents. The Ministry confirmed that following Minister Griffith’s direct, hands-on intervention, all seized passports have been legally recovered from management and successfully returned to the thirty-eight workers.

A 24-Hour Deadline and a Fatal Investigation

While the immediate return of the passports marks a critical breakthrough, the company faces severe legal jeopardy over its wider operational practices.

The Ministry of Labour has officially handed Ekaa HRIM a strict 24-hour deadline to produce a comprehensive, written response to a litany of reported labor violations. Crucially, state authorities confirmed they are now conducting a forensic review into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of one of the Indian laborers, Sekhar Chhetri, on May 12, 2026.

The workers reiterated their harrowing accounts to labor investigators, detailing how they were routinely denied basic food and clean drinking water, had their monthly salaries entirely withheld, and were forced to perform manual labor under highly hazardous, uninsured conditions. Furthermore, the laborers alleged that when they protested, management threatened them, locked them inside the quarry compound, and attempted to extort $5,000 USD from each worker as an escape fee.

“A Bitter Taste of Guyana”

The political opposition, which first broke the story after a fact-finding mission to the interior, has blasted the government for a delayed response.

Odessa Primus, General Secretary of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, expressed deep anger over the emotional and physical toll inflicted on the foreign nationals, noting that this scandal has severely tarnished Guyana’s international reputation.

“Despite these extreme human rights allegations, it appeared to be ‘business as usual’ for the company’s operators,” Primus stated during an address on Tuesday. “These workers came here to build our infrastructure, but they are now going to leave Guyana with a bitter taste in their mouths about our country.”

The WIN General Secretary emphasized that the ultimate buck stops with the Ministry of Labour, arguing that regulatory agencies should have targeted and shut down the operation the absolute second the abuses began to ferment.

The Ministry of Labour maintains that its joint investigation is highly active, noting that criminal and industrial charges remain firmly on the table as the 24-hour response clock runs out on the quarry’s directors.