Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged the Centre to reconsider its directive asking industry, commercial establishments and shops to continue paying full wages to their workers during the lockdown period as it may push them to bankruptcy.
He has asked the Centre to look for innovative solutions to protect the interests of workers without causing irreparable damage to industry and commercial establishments.
The Chief Minister has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking reconsideration of the order of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The relevant part of the order reads: “... that all the employers, be it in the industry or in the shops and commercial establishments, shall make payment of wages to their workers, at their work place, on the due date, without any deduction, for the period their establishments are under closure during the lockdown.”
Financial implications
This part of the order, said the Chief Minister, needs reconsideration “as this will have huge financial implications for industry as well as shops and commercial establishments in the State and may push them into bankruptcy as the income of most of these units has completely stopped due to the lockdown.”
On the other hand, Captain Amarinder said the workers, especially the low-paid ones, could be deprived of their income for no fault of theirs.
The Chief Minister termed it imperative that the Centre should re-examine the matter and explore some innovative solutions “whereby the interests of the workers can be protected without impairing the financial health of commercial and industrial units beyond repair”.
Pointing out that the State government had written separately to the Union Labour Ministry on the issue, Captain Amarinder urged the Prime Minister to advise them to take early action in this regard.