The circular by the Labour department comes amid mass movement of migrant labourers working in the state to their hometowns due to the coronavirus scare.
The government of Tamil Nadu has directed employers in the state to take care of the welfare of their employees or face legal action. This comes amid the mass movement of migrant workers across the state borders due to the coronavirus scare.
According to reports, Tamil Nadu’s Employment and Labour department has issued a circular to those in the Building and other Construction Works (BOCW) sector to strictly follow the BOCW Act and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act. As per the existing laws around migrant labourers and those in the construction industry, the employers of such labourers are responsible for the food, accommodation and medical care of the employees and their families at the time of a pandemic.
The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Edappadi K Palaniswami, through the circular, also tasked the District Collectors with the responsibility of ensuring that companies and employers follow these orders. The Collectors are also given the duty of arranging for temporary shelters and food for the labourers who have moved out of their workplaces and reached bus stands or railway stations with an intention to travel to their hometowns.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) also directed its members to ensure food and other essentials to the migrant workers employed in their projects.
A Crisis Management Committee will be set up in all the districts by the state government, headed by the District Collector and with members from the Chambers of Commerce, medical experts, pharma companies, heads of private hospitals, agricultural experts, fisheries and livestock experts, non-governmental organisations and representatives from the consumer sector. The Chief Minister has also permitted organisations to approach their respective District Collectors to get permission to ask a few employees to come to the office and work, in order to process the salaries of all the employees in that organisation.
Source: The News Minute