NEW DELHI: Labour Minister Gopal Rai ordered an First Information Report (FIR) be lodged against an outsourcing firm at a state-run hospital for non-compliance of the rules regarding minimum wages. Rai made a surprise inspection at the Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital in Malviya Nagar area on Tuesday, the first day of the Delhi government’s 10-day special drive to check the minimum wage rules.“The labour minister has directed the firm officials to appear before the deputy labour commissioner’s office with proper documents on December 26,” a government statement said.
In fact, the AAP government claimed that it had found several government and private institutions were not complying with the minimum wages rules during the inspection. On the first day of the drive, it inspected 20 public and private institutions. Nine teams of the Special Task Force (STF) carried out the inspections in west Delhi, said the labour minister. Also, these teams will have labour officer, inspection officer, assistant labour commissioner and others.
Under ‘Operation Minimum Wage’ till December 21, the STF will visit each of the 11 districts every day. “These entities are being issued show cause notices. We have asked the violators to appear before the labour court of west Delhi on December 24 with proper documents,” Rai said.The government has fixed wages of various categories on the basis of skills. The minimum wage for the unskilled labourers is `14,000 per month, while that for semi-skilled is Rs 15,400. For the skilled, it is Rs 16,962 per month.
Rai had personally inspected Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri and Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh on the first day of the drive. “In Sanjay Gandhi hospital, we found that the workers are only being paid `8,000 and some have not received any salary for the past six months,” he said.Non-compliance of rules were also observed at Ryan International School in Rohini Sector 25, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini Sector 6, Crown Plaza near Rithala metro station and Rajeev Gandhi Hospital, among others.
HELP AT HAND
Labourers who don’t get paid as per the rules can call 155214 helpline to lodge complaints
Hospitals, schools, companies, factories, indutrial setups are now under scanner