The Orissa Mining Workers’ Federation has urged Prime Minister Narendar Modi to revise the wage rates for mining workers at the earliest considering the exorbitant increase in the prices of essential commodities.
“Minimum rate of wages of workers engaged in gypsum, chromites, bauxite and iron ore mines was last revised in 2009. In these seven years, prices of essential commodities and health, education and communication costs have increased exorbitantly. The present wages, including variable DA, given to mining workers is not commensurate to afford minimum necessities to them,” former minister and federation president Prafulla Chandara Ghadai in a letter to the Prime Minister.
He further argued that implementation of Seventh Pay Commission, benefit of which to be reaped by upper class ministerial staff and officers, would further increase prices of essential commodities. Hence revision of wage rate of mining workers in commensurate with market prices is now imperative, he said.
Ghadai suggested that the minimum wage be doubled to satisfy the expectations of poor mining workers fixing `15,000 as earning per month.
Copies of this memorandum have been sent to Union labour and Employment Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and to MPs, Bhatruhari Mahtab, Baijayant Panda, Pinaki Mishra, Tathagata Satpathy, Baishnaba Parida, AU Singh Deo and Narendra Kumar Swain.
Ghadai has urged these Ministers and MPs to advice the labour Ministry for an upward revision of mining wage at the earliest.