Karnataka - Gulbarga   

GESCOM contract workers demand minimum wages

GULBARGA: Contract workers in Gulbarga Electricity Supply Company (GESCOM) on Saturday demanded that the Government direct the GESCOM authorities to pay them minimum wages.

Working president of the GESCOM Contract Workers’ Federation Shoukat Ali Alur and president Hanumanth Ratkal and secretary Shivayogi B. Gudur told presspersons here that while other electricity companies in the State paid minimum wages to contract workers employed by them, GESCOM denied minimum wages to its employees.

Mr. Alur said that the Government had recommended a daily wage of Rs. 115 for contract workers, but the GESCOM authorities paid only Rs. 30 to them.

The State Government should immediately intervene and end the “injustice” being meted out to contract workers.

He said that while Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation paid Rs. 3,077 as monthly wage to contract workers, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company paid Rs. 5,500. Similarly, MESCOM and HESCOM adhered to government rules on wages.

Mr. Alur said that contract workers of GESCOM were not covered under the mandatory Provident Fund scheme and the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) scheme.

The GESCOM authorities violated the rules and regulations pertaining to contract workers, he alleged.

He said that the Labour Department did not take action against the GESCOM authorities for not paying minimum wages to contract labourers. However, when the contract workers staged a protest in front of the Deputy Labour Commissioner’s office in Gulbarga on July 22, officials of the Labour Department told them that a notice had been issued to GESCOM to pay minimum wages and they had imposed a fine of Rs. 1,11,888 on GESCOM.

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