ਠੇਕੇਦਾਰ

What does thekedar mean in Punjabi? A thekedar (ਠੇਕੇਦਾਰ) is a contractor: a person who takes a contract, a theka, to do a job for an agreed price and then gets it done with his own labour and materials. In Punjab the word is heard most on building sites, for house, road and farm work.

What does thekedar mean in Punjabi?

Rekhta Dictionary gives thekedaar as a masculine noun meaning contractor, a person or company that undertakes a contract to provide materials or labour to perform a service or do a job. Rekhta also carries the lease holder sense, for a person who has taken a theka, a lease or contract. IGI Global's dictionary likewise defines thekedar simply as contractor, and Goong explains the word through theka, which means contract or agreement, so a thekedar is the person who has taken the theka and carries the responsibility for finishing it.

What work does a thekedar do in Punjab?

Most thekedars in Punjab work in building. A family building a house gives the work to a thekedar, who brings the mistri and mazdoor team, arranges bricks, cement and sand, and is paid at the agreed rate, often by the square foot or as a lump sum. Other thekedars take road, canal and government work through tenders, and in the harvest season a labour thekedar brings workers to the fields. If the work is late or poor, the loss and the complaint fall on the thekedar first.

How is a thekedar different from a mistri?

A mistri is the skilled mason who lays the bricks and plaster with his own hands, while the thekedar is the one who takes the contract for the whole job. The thekedar may never lay a brick himself: his work is to price the job, hire the team, buy the material and answer to the owner. In speech the word also carries a teasing sense: Rekhta notes the figurative sense of the one who is fully responsible, so calling someone the thekedar of a matter means he acts as if the whole right and the whole burden are his alone.