Questions mount over EKAA HRIM’s continued Guyana operations amid multi-year abuse claims

May 26, 2026 News

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By Khadidja Ba

(Kaieteur News) – Serious questions have been raised about Ekaa Hrim Earth Resources Management Inc. continued operation of its stone quarrying business in Guyana’s interior, following counter-claims by 37 Indian labourers and a mounting paper trail of regulatory complaints detailing systemic exploitation, forced confinement, and passport withholding dating back to 2024.

The dispute reached a boiling point after the company held a press conference accusing Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed of hijacking and kidnapping its workforce from its operational site in Batavia, Region 7.

However, breaking their silence in an interview with Kaieteur News, the 37 Indian nationals rejected the company’s narrative, revealing that they actively sought refuge from what they describe as indentured labour conditions.

“We were not kidnapped nor hijacked! We wanted to meet with the Indian High Commissioner and the company refused to help so we asked Mr. Mohamed, we just want to go home to our families!” one worker stated.

Ekaa Hrim Claims “Full Settlement” as Workers Decry Extortion Trap

In an official statement released on May 25, 2026, the company claimed the entire labour dispute regarding salaries had been resolved:

“EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management Inc. Confirms Settlement of Outstanding Wages

Georgetown, Guyana – May 25, 2026 – EKAA HRIM Earth Resources Management Inc. confirms that all outstanding wages for the months of April and May 2026 have been fully processed and settled. The payments were completed on May 25, 2026, ahead of the timeline previously communicated by the Company. Following the completion of the payment process, the Ministry of Labour was formally notified. The Company further confirms that there are no outstanding wage or salary obligations owed to any of the 37 employees referenced in recent allegations against the organization. All payments due and owing to these individuals have been accounted for and settled in full.”

Despite the company’s public declaration of a clean slate, the 37 Indian nationals have strongly countered this narrative. The workers state that $2,500 USD per person remains completely outstanding, as this money was forcefully deducted directly from their salaries by the company as a mandatory “guarantee” fee. Furthermore, the labourers emphasised that despite the company’s claims of resolving the matter with the Ministry of Labour, there is still no word on their immediate repatriation or the funding for their return flights to India.

A Documented History: The Paper Trail of Grievances

While Ekaa Hrim has attempted to frame the current worker walkout as an isolated incident triggered by external interference, official documents obtained from India’s Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and the MADAD consular portal in the possession of this publication reveal that Indian authorities and the High Commission in Georgetown have been receiving detailed complaints about the company for years.

Official records corroborate a continuous pattern of systemic abuse, illegal passport retention, and extreme labour exploitation:

1. The Case of Senthilkumar Subramanian (2024–2026)

Subramanian, employed as a crusher manager at the Batavia site from March 2023 to August 2024, filed a formal complaint (Registration No: MEAPD/E/2024/0006528) with the Ministry of External Affairs in India. He detailed being forced to work 12- to 14-hour shifts totaling 1,098 hours of unpaid overtime, including on public holidays and Sundays.

In a subsequent escalation filed as recently as May 20, 2026, Subramanian revealed a terrifying encounter when he and a colleague attempted to seek help in late 2024.

“Mr. Jeswin Pradeep Kumar & Mr. Karthik (project director) and Mr. Sivakumar (CEO) of the Ekka company prevented us from meeting with high commission officials and instead locked us inside a room located within a stone quarry. During that ten-day period, we were subjected to various forms of harassment and mental anguish. Concurrently, they coerced us into signing a letter on a blank sheet of paper… threatening us with imprisonment if we refused.”

Subramanian was eventually forced to flee Guyana by booking a flight at his own expense, leaving behind thousands of dollars in earned wages.

2. The Case of Paulsamy Pandiselvam (2024)

Another grievance (Registration No: MEAPD/E/2024/0005223) filed by 50-year-old Pandiselvam described similar grueling conditions at the Batavia site. Pandiselvam reported that he was forced to work 14 hours a day for a year and a half without being permitted to return home, causing his health to collapse into chronic knee pain and physical disability.

According to his filing, Ekaa Hrim’s management refused him medical treatment and actively blocked him from traveling to town to purchase necessary medicines.

3. The Case of Bangaru Manikkam (May 2026)

The most recent filing on the MADAD portal (Grievance ID: GUMSAD900061826), dated May 22, 2026, shows that the alleged abuses have persisted unabated. Manikkam, who worked as a crusher manager until May 2025, stated that management forcefully took five contract letters in their favour and illegally deducted $3,000 USD from his salary during his first six months.

Manikkam stated he was left with approximately $6,000 USD in unpaid wages, had his passport locked away, and was forced under duress by company officials Karthik and Jeswin Pradeep to write a resignation letter at the company’s Georgetown office. He spent GYD $300,000 of his own money at the Georgetown Hospital for illnesses contracted due to poor food and water conditions at the quarry, only for the company to mark him absent during his hospital stay.

The “Scam” Pipeline: Recruitment and Financial Extortion

The workers’ accounts expose a highly calculated financial trap orchestrated between Ekaa Hrim and its preferred recruitment agency in India, Global Dynamic Talent Solutions (also operating as Global Dynamics), based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. A cursory search on the recruitment agency’s website, shows the RC Holder of the recruitment company is Sarju Bhaskar, who is also the Founder and President of Texila American University and Founder of EKAA HRIM EARTH RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Labourers reportedly paid recruitment fees averaging 84,000 Indian Rupees ($1,000 USD) to secure what they were promised would be a standard 8-hour workday with proper food, housing, and annual company-paid home leave.

Upon arrival in Guyana, the trap was sprung, the company routinely deducted between $2,500 and $3,000 USD from workers’ salaries under the guise of a “guarantee” fee. Passports were systematically confiscated by HR. Workers signed ledgers to briefly access their passports for banking transactions or to wire money home, only for the documents to be immediately seized back the same day. If a worker faced a medical emergency or a family crisis back home, company managers allegedly demanded a penalty of $2,500 USD in cash to release their passport. When combined with the $2,500 already withheld from their salary, workers faced an effective $5,000 USD exit penalty, plus the burden of buying their own USD $2,000 return flight.

Questions Mount Over Inaction

With a multi-year trail of continuous complaints, questions are being asked about how Ekaa Hrim has managed to avoid severe sanctions, a structural shutdown, or an operational suspension by authorities.

Local sources suggest that shifting market dynamics may be driving the company’s desperate labour practices. “The stone price in Guyana fell because everyone got a quarry and went into the business. The price for stone is low, and the man running it is tight with money,” a sector insider noted. Critics argue that market fluctuations cannot justify the systematic victimisation of an international workforce.

Furthermore, documentation indicates that diplomatic channels have failed to provide an adequate safety net. Right to Information (RTI) replies from the High Commission of India in Georgetown show a hands-off approach, repeatedly closing serious grievances with remarks advising workers to “take up the matter with the embassy directly,” a process that Subramanian noted caused the stranded men “significant mental distress.”

While Ekaa Hrim insists it has settled its immediate wage obligations for April and May, the remaining 37 workers refuse to step foot back on company property. The fundamental dispute over the withheld $2,500 “guarantee” fees and the refusal to fund repatriation flights remains unresolved.

As the Ministry of Labour and legal counsel continue to review the company’s financial records and contract copies, the broader question remains unanswered: How many multi-year complaints must pile up before Ekaa Hrim’s operational licenses in Guyana are formally re-evaluated?

 

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• abuse claims, Ekaa Hrim, Poor working condition, Senthilkumar Subramanian, slavery

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