23rd April 2015 | Hetu Tola, Khunti Block, Jharkhand | Amit Topo
People working as labourers at a private farm have been cheated from their wages for the past 5-6 years. Jayant Jaipal Singh, who runs a private farm had employed close to 24 people in 2009. Sugita Kumari was one of the women who joined his team.
The sole earning member of her family, she was entirely dependant on her month's wages to feed her family of 5, send her younger siblings to school and pay the medical bills for her ageing parents.
Sugita and the others were paid erratically, sometimes 400 a month, sometimes 200. Many were eventually asked to leave in 2013. They are now owed between INR 14,000 and 16,000 by Mr. Singh.
The Jharkhand Government had issued new Contract Labour Wage Policy to protect the interests of labourers from across the state in 2011. These guidelines lay down the monthly minimum wage for unskilled labourers at INR3808; it is INR 4006 for semi-skilled, INR 4873 for skilled and INR 5920 for highly skilled labourers.
Sugita is now drowning in debt. but you can stand by her and get her justice.
Call to Action: Please call the Labour Inspector of Khunti on +91 9798515858 and ask him to ensure that the labourers working with Jayant Jaipal Singh get paid their dues.
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