Lockdown:Industries,brick kilns can resume if they can house labourers,says Amarinder Singh
Chandigarh/UNI: To address the problem of migrant labourers and prevent their exodus amid ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has asked all industrial units and brick kilns to commence operations if they have adequate provisions to accommodate them safely within the premises.
All hygiene precautions must be made fully available at all such industrial facilities for workers, said Capt Amarinder, adding that the owners should also make soap and water freely available for use by the workers and regularly sanitise the common facilities.
The directions and discussions came amid reports of lakhs of migrant labourers getting stranded across the nation, and the problem assuming ominous proportions with such labourers gathering in large numbers at borders in many states, according to an official spokesperson.
The Union Government has directed states to adhere strictly to the national lockdown, including sealing of the borders for human movement, to check the spread of the deadly Coronavirus.
Capt Amarinder said this would be beneficial for both, the industry and brick kiln owners as well as the labourers who had lost their employment and homes in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown, and had been left to fend for themselves.
He reiterated his government’s commitment to ensure that nobody, including such labourers, daily wagers etc, are deprived of food and other basic necessities in this hour of crisis.
Capt Amarinder said his government was also in discussion with Radha Soami Satsang Beas, which has already offered its Bhawans as quarantine facilities, to allow migrant labourers to stay there as these people would be needed for wheat harvesting in the fields in two weeks’ time.
In line with the Chief Minister’s directives, the Punjab Labour Department has also issued an advisory to employers/owners of private establishments, including industries, factories, shops and commercial establishments etc, not to terminate their employees/workers, particularly casual and contractual workers, from their jobs, and not to deduct their wages/salary.`
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