Imphal, July 15: With the Op position refusing to withdraw its cut motion with reference to the demand for grants for the Labour and Employment Dept, the Assembly had to ultimately resort to a voice vote to get it passed in the Assembly today.

Demand for grants for Information and Publicity Dept and PWD were also passed today.

When the demand for grants of the Labour and Employment Department came up for discussion in the Assembly, Labour Minister Z Mangaibou informed the House that the Manisana Wage Board is yet to be implemented in the State.

He said that no newspaper houses in the State have implemented the Wage Board recommendations and added that the Labour Department has also not instructed the Newspaper to implement the same.

He said that the newspaper houses here are in no position to implement the wage board.

Opposition MLA O Joy said that journalists working in the local newspapers are hugely underpaid.

The reporters who venture out to the field putting their lives at jeopardy and the desk men who toil away without any break are not paid according to their inputs while the proprietors are getting richer by the day, he said.

Joy said that since no appointment letters are issued, proprietors are at liberty to boot out the employees at the drop of the hat.

He said the Labour Dept and the DIPR should work to implement the Working Journalist Act, 1959.