New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party government is working on a proposal for regularising the services of contractual workers and to abolish contract labour system in the national capital, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday. The chief minister assured the labourers of taking action against those who are not abiding by the minimum wage norms.
He also urged all the labourers to send their students to school and assured that the government is taking steps to make its schools at par with the private schools. Mr Kejriwal said, it was the rich, not the poor, who voted him into office and spoke about the tussle with the lieutenant governor’s office while his government was trying to raise the minimum wage in Delhi.
“The government is also working on a proposal for regularising the services of contractual workers and to abolish contract labour system in Delhi,” Mr Kejriwal said, while addressing a gathering on the occasion of Labour Day.
“If Delhi was granted statehood, we would have made all contractual labourers permanent. We are facing certain hurdles but we will do it soon. We will take strict action against those not abiding by minimum wage norms for labours,” he added.
Delhi labour minister Gopal Rai announced that the registered construction workers will soon receive passes for free travel in DTC buses plying across the city.
“The government is working on a proposal to provide free DTC bus pass facility to the registered construction workers, for which agenda will be placed in the construction board meeting,” he said.
Taking a dig at bureaucrats, Mr Kejriwal said IAS officers too should be paid on the basis of the calories they require if this rule was applicable to labourers.
Stressing that a labourer’s minimum monthly wage in Delhi which is Rs 13,500 at present, was Rs 9,500 earlier, he said the committee which studied the wage hike decided that labourers needed 2,700 calories a day.
“I told them that a worker won’t be paid based on calories. He is a human, not an animal... He has to educate his children, buy clothes... You can pay IAS officers based on their caloric needs, not labourers,” he told a meeting of the Delhi Workers Conference here on the occasion of May Day.
Relations between the AAP government and the bureaucracy have been tense since the alleged beating up of Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by some MLAs.
Mr Kejriwal said that a committee of officers as well as representatives of labourers and contractors was formed to study the matter of low wages but it didn’t get Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s approval.
“He (Mr Baijal) complained that his permit was not asked for before forming it. We said we are asking now,” the Chief Minister said, adding that after the LG’s rejection, the same committee was formed with the same members as earlier. “They held meetings and it took six more months to increase the (labourers’) wages.”
Govt not bother edabout labourers
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee said on Tuesday that it was shocking to find out that the AAP govt did not spend a single rupee from the budgetary allocation for Labour Welfare though the AAP claims to stand to protect the interests of the common people in the capital.
