Swings in DA baffle industrial workers

VADODARA, Oct 12: Have prices of essential commodities gone down? Or have they shot up? If you're in Gujarat, the answers to both these q...

VADODARA, Oct 12: Have prices of essential commodities gone down? Or have they shot up? If you8217;re in Gujarat, the answers to both these questions can be in the affirmative. Otherwise, why should dearness allowance increase for one section of workers and go down for another?

Believe it or not, the Gujarat Government has recently reduced industrial workers8217; DA by Rs 1.80, while simultaneously increasing it by five per cent for State government employees.

Labour Minister Bhupendra Lakhawala has no explanation for the contradiction. 8220;There should be no difference in the DA of the two groups8221;, was all he could tell Express Newsline on Tuesday.

Incidentally, he was not aware if the State government employees8217; DA had risen though, with a little help from his staff, he recalled that the industrial workers8217; allowance had gone down.

Angry about the discrepancy, Vadodara Kamdar Union leaders Sudhirbhai Biniwale and Narpatsinh Solanki questioned, 8220;How can the government apply separate yardsticks for two sections? If the price-rise affects government employees, it should affect workers as well.8221;

According to Assistant Labour Commissioner R S Leva, 8220;Industrial workers8217; DA went up abnormally by Rs 8.20 in April. It has come down now because inflation has fallen. Generally though, it should not go down.8221;

He added, 8220;In April, it was the industrialists who were complaining; now it8217;s the workers8217; turn.8221;

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Though the cutback is nominal, it will affect about 1.5 lakh workers in Vadodara district. Their DA is revised every six months; for State government employees, the revision is tri-monthly.

According to the VKU, even the State Assembly had accepted the fact that more than 93 per cent of the industries do not implement labour laws, including minimum wages. 8220;The government8217;s anti-labour attitude will cause workers to take law into their own hands8221;, it warned.