On Monday, May 18, 2026, Guyana’s Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning issued an urgent 24-hour ultimatum to EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management, an India-based mining firm operating in the country, demanding the company respond to multiple formal allegations of labor rights violations linked to the recent death of one of its 38 Indian national employees. The fatal incident, which occurred on May 12, will be a core focus of a wide-ranging official investigation that will also examine claims of unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions, and failures to uphold worker welfare standards at the company’s Batavia quarry, located in Guyana’s Region Seven Cuyuni-Mazaruni.
A multi-agency investigative task force has already been assembled to conduct on-site assessments of the quarry. The team draws personnel from the Labour Ministry, the Guyana Police Force, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit, and other relevant regulatory bodies, all of whom have been mobilized to probe the full scope of the allegations. Prior to launching the formal investigation, Labour Minister Keoma Griffith held an urgent diplomatic meeting with Manoj Kumar, India’s Acting High Commissioner to Guyana, to address the immediate concern of withheld worker passports. Following Griffith’s intervention, all held passports were returned to the 38 Indian workers, a resolution the Labour Ministry has credited to the minister’s direct action.
After the diplomatic talks, the ministry convened a tripartite meeting between the affected workers, EKAA HRIM company management, and government officials to create a formal space for workers to lay out their grievances. The ministry has publicly committed to ongoing monitoring of the case and pledged to take all regulatory and legal steps required to ensure full compliance with Guyana’s domestic labor laws.
Notably absent from the ministry’s official statement was any acknowledgment of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Guyana’s main opposition political party, which first brought the workers’ allegations to public attention. According to WIN, the party arranged transportation for the aggrieved workers from the remote Batavia quarry site to Georgetown, provided temporary accommodation for the group, and lodged a formal representation with the Indian High Commission before the government launched its official probe. On the day the passports were returned, WIN party leader Azruddin Mohamed and senior executive Tabitha Sarabo-Ally were present at the Labour Ministry’s Brickdam headquarters alongside the Indian workers as the employees reclaimed their travel documents.