Irregularities in payment of salaries at Taj hotel: Rai

Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai Monday inspected the Hotel Taj Palace here and found irregularities in the payment of salaries to workers of its engineer-wing by an outsourcing company, an official statement said.

The hotel spokesperson, however, maintained that they were complying with the minimum wage regulations.

The Delhi government has launched a 10-day special drive to check the implementation of minimum wages rules by both private and public institutions in the city.

After his inspection, Rai told reporters that in the engineer-wing of the 5 Star hotel, some people gave complaints that the outsourcing company was just paying them Rs 10,000 in violation of the laid down rules.

"They (hotel management) do not have record of payment of salary of workers. Secondly, I felt by talking to the workers that they were threatened by the outsourcing company. We will also call them to record their statements separately," he said.

Later in the evening, the government issued a statement, saying, "Irregularities were found in the work of a company at the engineer wing of the hotel. The company is not paying minimum wages.

"In view of the irregularities, representatives of Hotel Taj have been asked to appear with all necessary documents before the deputy labour commissioner concerned on December 28," it said.

A Taj Hotel spokesperson said, "We are 100 per cent compliant on the applicable minimum wage regulations set by the government. As per our vendor policy, they are obligated to comply with all the statutory laws, including the compliance on minimum wages".

As part of the drive, teams of labour department have inspected 103 institutions across the city.

The minimum wages applicable in Delhi from November this year are Rs 14,000 per month for unskilled workers,