Delhi government launches 'Operation Minimum wage' to check violations

The Delhi government on Monday launched a 10-day special drive to check whether minimum wage rules set by it are being followed in the national capital, and conducted inspections at 20 public and private institutions on the first day.

talking to the reporters here, Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai said during the inspections by nine teams of the special task force (STF) in west Delhi, it was found that some government and private institutions were not complying with the minimum wage rules as notified by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.

"Those found to be violating the rules are being issued showcause notices. We have asked the violators to appear before the labour court of west Delhi on December 24 with proper documents," Rai said.

On Tuesday, he said, the special task force will conduct "Operation Minimum Wage" in the south district of the labour department and those found violating the norms will have to appear before the court on December 25.

"We will conduct this drive till December 21 and go to one district every day," Rai said.

In Monday's drive, Rai personally inspected Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri and Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh here.

"In Sanjay Gandhi hospital, we found that the workers are only being paid Rs 8,000 and some have not received any salary for the past six months," Rai said.

Other locations where the task force went for inspection and found violations include Ryan International School in Sector 25 of Rohini, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Sector 6 Rohini, Crown Plaza near Rithala metro station and Rajeev Gandhi hospital, among more.

The government has fixed wages of various categories on the basis of skills. The minimum wage for the unskilled labourers is Rs 14,000 per month while that for semi-skilled is Rs 15,400 per month and for the skilled, it is Rs 16,962 per month.

--IANS

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