The Labour Minister, Mr Mallikarjun Kharge, said 82 notifications had been issued so far under the Contract Labour Act, 1970.

The notifications were issued after complaints were received against use of contract labour for jobs of perennial nature in Central undertakings.

The complaints concern establishments in the Central sphere, such as State Bank of India and MRPL in Bangalore, Food Corporation of India in Chandigarh, BPCL’s LPG bottling plant in Tamil Nadu, BSNL, Kolkata Port and CPWD in West Bengal among others, according to the Labour Ministry.

In 2010-11, a total of 7,327 inspections were conducted and 4,908 prosecutions launched, Mr Kharge informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

NO DATA

Mr Kharge also admitted that no data was being maintained for contract workers not covered under the Contract Labour Act, 1970 or of unlicensed contractors.

In fact, the only figures available with the Government are till March 31, 2009, in a study conducted by the VV Giri National Labour Institute.

According to the study, there were 14 lakh contract labourers in the Central sphere and 46 lakh in the States in 2009. “It has been mentioned in the study report….that their (contract labour) estimated number is over five times more than the number covered,” Mr Kharge said.

The Minister said the data on unlicensed contractors engaged in the supply of labour was also not maintained at the Central level. As far as licensed contractors were concerned, in 2010-11, there were 39,066 licenced contractors, up from 25,500 in 2009-10.

aditi.n@thehindu.co.in

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW