NEW DELHI: Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar has asked states/UTs to designate nodal officers to coordinate with the 20 control rooms set up by the ministry to mitigate workers' problems amid the coronavirus lockdown.

Gangwar shot off a letter to states after it emerged that more than two-thirds of the complaints received by the control rooms pertained to states/union territories. The labour ministry has set up 20 control rooms pan-India to address wage-related grievances and to mitigate problems faced by migrant workers amid the lockdown.

These workers grievance redressal centres were set up after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3, with conditional relaxations from April 20 in some areas. "Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar has requested various State/UT Governments to designate a nodal officer from Labour Department to coordinate with Control Rooms set up by Union Government for addressing issues of the labour/workers in the country in view the lockdown announced to combat COVID-19 pandemic," a ministry statement said.

In the letter shot off by Gangwar on Friday to the labour ministers of states/UTs, he said, "The coordinated efforts of Central and State Governments are required in order to resolve the grievances of the workers."

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The ministry said that the control rooms were initially concerned with wage related grievances related to central sphere and issues of migrant labour. However, it has been observed that out of a total 2,100 grievances received in the 20 control rooms till Friday, 1,400 pertain to various state/UT governments, it stated.

The minster said that labour being a concurrent subject, it is important that proper coordination is established with various state/UT governments to resolve the grievances. The minister also forwarded the list of 20 Central Control Rooms along with names of officers deputed by the central government for ready reference.