State Cabinet’s Decision to Hike Daily Minimum Wages is Merely Copy of Old Notification of Previous Govt: BJD

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal has raised serious questions on the Chief Minister Mohan Majhi led State Cabinet’s decision to hike in the daily minimum wages of workers in various categories, alleging that the BJP government is merely copying an old notification of the previous government.

In a press briefing, senior BJD leader and Mayor of Cuttack Municipal Corporation Subash Singh said the wage revision had already been notified by the previous government on March 14 this year.

Notably, the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday approved to hike increase of wages of unskilled labourers to Rs 450 from Rs 352, semi-skilled to Rs 500 from Rs 392, skilled to Rs 550 from Rs 442 and highly skilled to Rs 600 from Rs 502.

After the Cabinet decision, the opposition BJD showed the notification letter dated March 14, 2024 in which the Labour and Employee’s State Insurance Department clearly mentioned about wages revised during previous Naveen Patnaik government.

Addressing a press briefing along with senior BJD leader Lenin Mohanty, Subash Singh said that it is surprising that the new government, in its second cabinet meeting, has repeated the revised wage slabs, which had already been implemented by the Naveen Patnaik government just three months ago.

The previous government had increased the minimum wage rates in March by over Rs 100 in several categories and it was duly notified by the Labour Department, he said.

Shockingly, the current government seems unaware of the programmes initiated by its predecessor, Singh said.

The BJP government tried to divert attention from the fiasco that had happened during the Rath Yatra in Puri by hurriedly announcing the revision in minimum wages, without referencing to old records, he added.