Congress accuses govt of violating Minimum Wages Act while hiring workers on contract

While addressing the reporters in Gandhinagar, he asked the government if any survey or study has been conducted by the administration to ensure the recently revised Act was being implemented in the state.

In March, the Gujarat government raised the minimum wage in the state by 25 per cent. “The contract and outsourcing agencies which provide workers to different state government departments and entities are involved in exploitation,” he further claimed.

Chavda said the contract workers in Gujarat are also robbed of other provisions like overtime and prescribed holidays. During the party’s ongoing outreach programme “Jan Manch”, the Congress leader said, several youth came forward to complain locals are not being employed in private and government entities as prescribed in the norms.

Citing data tabled in Gujarat Assembly during the Budget Session in March, Chavda said many companies do not accommodate locals in their workforce. “As per the government notification, 85 per cent of the workforce of all entities should comprise of the local population,” he added.

Later in the day, Chavda met Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at his office and appraised him about the complaints his party received through their “Jan Manch” campaign.

“We apprised the Chief Minister of the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state. An on-duty police head constable of Olpad in Surat went missing after he was taken for questioning by Delhi Police in August last year. Today, over eight months have passed and there is no news of him. Secondly, we also highlighted the case of a 15-year-old girl who was found hanging in Jhalod in Dahod in March. No FIR has been filed for the incident that happened months ago. During the assembly elections, our MLA Khanti Kharadi was kidnapped. No action has been taken yet,” Chavda said, adding the Chief Minister assured of early resolution on the issues.