On Tuesday, the Ministry of Labour announced that it had set up 20 control rooms under the Office of Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) to address wage-related issues and other problems that are being faced by daily-wage migrant workers, amidst the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak. On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the extension of the lockdown until May 3, 2020.
#Breaking | Labour Ministry sets up 20 control rooms to address wage-related grievances.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) April 14, 2020
Details by TIMES NOW’s Nikunj Garg. | #LockdownTillMay3 pic.twitter.com/uJYBY4KDi6
Role of the Control Rooms set up to address wage-related issues amidst Coronavirus lockdown
Migrant workers who work as daily wage labourers across India are faced with job loss and pay cuts owing to the lockdown. As per reports, 40 crore people working in the informal sector may be affected during this period.
As such, the 20 control rooms set up by the Union Government across India will help in resolving wage-related issues of the workers by coordinating with respective State Governments. The migrant labourers can reach out to these control rooms via Whatsapp, phone and even email. The Ministry of Labour had earlier appealed to private employers to refrain from laying off employees or trimming their wages.
While the overall functioning of these control rooms will be supervised by the Chief Labour Commissioner, these centres would be run and managed by labour enforcement officers, regional labour commissioners, assistant labour commissioners, and deputy chief labour commissioners. All officials have been instructed to treat the workers in a humane manner and provide immediate relief to them.
Disbursement of cash
On April 3, the Department of Financial Services appealed to PMJDY women account holders to check the last digit of their account number and follow the schedule shared below to visit banks or Bank Mitras to maintain social distancing during the nation-wide lockdown.
The Ministry of Rural Development had earlier released the lump sum amount of Rs 500 per woman to the 20.39 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts for April 2020. The women PMJDY account holders having account number with the last digit as 0 or 1 withdrew money from the banks on April 3, 2019.
Similarly, the women PMJDY account holders having account number with the last digit as 2 or 3 withdrew money on April 4. The beneficiaries with an account number ending with 4 or 5 visited banks on April 7. On similar lines, women with bank accounts ending with 6 or 7 visited banks on April 8. Finally, the account holders ending with 8 or 9 withdrew money from their banks on April 9. Banks accordingly phased out the credit to beneficiary accounts.
