As Centre eases curbs, order on mandatory pay to workers withdrawn

Stranded in cities due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, migrant workers have sought to go home.

With the government easing curbs in the fourth phase of the lockdown on industrial and commercial establishments, barring those in containment zones, the Centre has withdrawn its order on payment of wages to workers during the lockdown period.

On March 29, after migrant workers across the country hit the road in a bid to reach home, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order stating, “All the employers, be it in the Industry or in the shops and commercial establishments, shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their work places, on the due date, without any deduction, for the period their establishments are under closure during the Iockdown.”

In the guideline issued on Sunday for the fourth phase of the lockdown, the ministry has not included this order, even as it has included its standard operating procedure on movement of migrants, extraction of Indians stranded abroad, running of trains and transit of foreign nationals.