Drive against unregistered shops and low wages commences
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Amukhomba Ngangbam
Imphal, October 13 2011:
Drives for registration of shops and implementation of minimum wages under the Manipur shops and Establishments Act, 1972 was set off by the officials of the Labour department today.
In the drive which commenced a few days back in the shops and establishment in Imphal bazaar led by the Chief Inspecting Officer, Labour department, E Tomba, the team came across a number of shops and establishments which are not registered and have not implemented the minimum wages as prescribed by the state government under the Manipur shops and Establishments Act, 1972 .
An official of the Labour Department warned that those acting against the Act will be dealt with seriously and notice will be issued against them.
If the concerned shops and establishment does not give a satisfying reply to the notice issued, legal actions will be taken up.
In the drive at Thangal bazaar area, the team came across 3 shops which are not registered and 9 shops which have not renewed their registration.
Apart from this, there were 26 shops which were paying salaries much below the rate fixed by the Labour Department of the state.
The shops of Thangal bazaar which were not registered are Imphal Textiles, Luxmi Store and Manjeet Enterprises.
And those which have not renewed their registrations are BS Enterprises, ML Store, Burmah Traders, Indrani Store, Precious Foot Wear, Ramsur Aggarwal, Balchand Rajkumar, Shree Luxmi Textiles and Usha Enterprises.
The official of the Labour department further went on to say that the minimum wages fixed by the state government to unskilled labourer is Rs 122.10/day, semi skill labourer Rs 129.97/day and that of a skilled labourer Rs 132.60/day.He said that the drive is not for deriving any benefit but were carried out to enable the government to fix responsibility to the shop owners when any unwanted incident occurs in that particular shop, on any matter whatsoever, and also to stop the owners of the shop acting on their whims and fancy against the interest of the labourers.