The Labour department has taken steps to call a meeting of the plantation labour committee in connection with minimum wage revision for the plantation sector, Minister for Labour V. Sivankutty has said.
He was replying to a submission by P.S. Supal (CPI) here on Thursday.
Mr. Sivankutty said the minimum wages had come into effect on January 1, 2019. In the plantation sector, minimum wages were revised every three years. The joint trade unions had submitted a notice this month demanding revision of the minimum wages..
The Labour department had conducted a preliminary survey in association with the Bhavanam Foundation Kerala, a State government undertaking, in connection with a government project to build houses for plantation workers who did not have houses. There were as many as 4.303 retired people who did not have houses or land and 1,045 people who had land but no houses.
As far as current employees were concerned, there were 4,715 people who had land but no house and 22,359 people without land or house. In all, 32,422 beneficiaries were identified.
This list had been handed over to the Bhavanam Foundation, and the government had given its nod for considering it as a special list along with the Life Mission list. The difficulty in finding land was posing a hurdle to the housing project in the plantation sector. Talks were under way with plantation owners on handing over land.
In Munnar, plantation workers with own land but without house, independent houses of 400 sq ft would be built at a cost of ₹4 lakh each.
In Kuttiyar Valley panchayat of Devikulam taluk, 10 plantation workers on the beneficiary list had been handed over houses.
Mr. Sivankutty said the government had formulated a plantation policy as per the recommendations of the Krishnan Nair Commission. Plantation managements have started three group hospitals, 42 garden hospitals, and 22 dispensaries in Idukki district, and two group hospitals, 42 garden hospitals, and 11 dispensaries in Wayanad district.
The new Code on Social Security made provisions for implementing ESI (Employees’ State Insurance) in the plantation sector too. As soon as the Union government issued the notification for the Code on Social Security, plantation workers would come under ESI cover.
Plantation inspectors, the Minister said, had given directions to plantation owners to follow the provisions of the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, and the Plantations Labour Rules, 1969. Action would be taken against plantation owners who violated the directions, Mr. Sivankutty said.
