Lok Sabha Question No. 1474 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-05-03
Subject: Payment to Labourers
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: ABHISHEK SINGH, PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1474

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03rd MAY, 2016

## PAYMENT TO LABOURERS

1474. SHRI ABHISHEK SINGH:

## SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY:

Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) the  guidelines  regarding  permissible  incentives  including  overtime payment  and  retirement  age  of  labourers  in  Food  Corporation  of  India (FCI);
- (b) whether the FCI has decided to de-notify its depots as some of the departmental  labourers  have  allegedly  received  even  more  than  Rs.  4 lakhs  per  month  in  wages  because  of  the  incentive  system  in  notified depots and the widely used proxy labourers;
- (c) if  so, the details thereof and the measures taken/to be taken to fix the  maximum  limit  on  the  incentives  payable  per  person  either  by denotifying these depots or handing them over to States or private sector on service contracts; and
- (d) whether steps have been taken to mechanise all the FCI depots so as to reduce the reliance on departmental labourer, if so, the details and the outcome thereof?

## A N S W E R MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## (SHRI RAM  VILAS PASWAN)

- (a) The incentive payment admissible to the departmental labour ranges from  8%  to  50%  of  normal  wages  for  bags  handled  above  the  datum  of current norms of 105 bags. In case of stacking, the incentive for height ranges from 10% to 50% whereas for lead incentive ranges from 15% to 100%.

Besides  the  overtime  is  admissible  to  a  worker  as  per  Shops  & Establishment Act of respective states which ranges from 25% to 100% for beyond  office  hours  and  work  on  Sunday/  Public  Holidays  provided  they fulfill hourly norms during the Overtime. The slab-wise details for different operations are attached as Annexure-I.

The  retirement  of  labour  in  Food  Corporation  of  India  (FCI)  is  60 years.

- (b) & (c):`  Yes, proposal has been submitted to the Ministry of Labour & Employment for grant of exemption under the provisions of section 31 and denotification  of  notified  depots  from  the  purview  of  Contract  Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 so that labour could be pooled in a few depots to deploy contract labour in vacated depots.

In order to check the irregularities and to minimize the handling cost of labourers, the following steps have been taken:

- (i) Rationalization of labour is being done at District/ Region/ Zonal level an in  this  exercise,  398  labourers  have  been  recently  shifted  within  the Regions.
- (ii) 1192 Departmental Labours have been recently shifted from 19 de-hired godowns to other depots as per the requirement to bring down the cost of handling.
- (iii)  Executive Director (IA), FCI Headquarters has also been requested to arrange  special  audit  of  the  depots  where  the  monthly  earning  by  an individual labour has been reported to be more Rs. 1.5 lakhs.
- (iv)  the  list  of  depots  with  higher  handling  cost  is  being  shared  with Vigilance Division for investigation and action wherever warranted.
- (v)  Instructions  regarding  prohibition  of  Proxy  Labour  in  the  depots  have been reiterated from time to time.
- (vi) instructions regarding checking of ID cards of labours regularly at the entry points in depots and monitoring of absenteeism of labour have been revamped.
- (vii)  General  Managers  (Region)  were  also  directed  to  depute  squad  for surprise checks in the depot to curb the practice of employment of proxy by the labours.
- (viii)  Labours  are  sent  on  tour  to  other  depots  to  ward  off  idle  wages  at their  original  places  of  posting  and  reduce  incentive  earnings  at  nearby depots during rake operations.
- (ix)  Placement  of  rakes  on  Sundays  and  Holidays  are  avoided  as  far  as possible to avoid excessive payment of OTA to the departmental workers.
- (x)  instructions  regarding  medical/  fitness  test  has  also  been  issued  to ward off proxy labour engagement by unfit departmental labours.
- (d): In the year 2013-14, FCI had installed bag stacker on pilot basis in 27 depots.  However,  the  same  has  not  been  found  to  be  successful  as  the stackers were too bulky and it was difficult to move them from one stack to other across sheds in a depot.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a)  OF  THE  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  1474  DUE  FOR  ANSWER  ON  03.05.2015  IN  THE  LOK SABHA

## Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution

## Department of Food & Public Distribution

For bags weighing below 66 Kgs.

Incentive earning beyond general norms (datum) which is 105 bags per worker.

- (A) Handling Incentive:

First 105 Begs:

Handling Norm

Next 30 Bags:

Full Wages for 30 bags+8% extra

Next 30 Bags:

Full Wages for 30 bags+15% extra

Next 30 Bags:

Full Wages for 30 bags+35% extra

Beyond 195 bags: Full Wages for the actual no of bags + 50% extra

## Full wages means Basic Pay+DA+HRA

- (B) Stacking Incentive:

First 10 height :

Height Norm

Height at 11 & 12 : 10% of full wages for actual no of bags stacked at

this height

Height at 13 & 14 : 25%     ----do------

Height at 15 & 16 : 30%     ----do------

Height at 17 & 18 : 40%     ----do------

Height 19 above  :  50%    -----do-----

- (C) Lead incentive:

Upto 66'    :   Lead norm

Lead 67' to 99':

`15% of full wages for actual no of bags carried in

this slab.

Lead 100' to 132':  30% -----do-----

Lead 133' to 165':  50% -----do-----

Lead 165' above:

100% -----do-----

- (D) Sardar/Mandal: Incentive wages to sardar/mandal will be paid equal to the  average incentive earning of handling Mazdoor in the gang provided the concerned sardar/mandal has attended the work.

- (E) Overtime Incentive:

The  general  norms  of  handling  bags  would  be  divided  by  6.5  hrs  to arrive at the hourly norms.  If the workers work for one hour and attains the norm, he would be paid wages at the rate of overtime, as per the shops and establishment act of the respective states.  It is clarified that this payment for achieving the norm includes the element of wages as well as the element of overtime.

## Government of India

## Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Department of Food & Public Distribution

However the worker would be eligible for payment of incentive wages, provided  he  gives  output  in  excess  of  the  hourly  norm.    Thus,  if  a  worker works on overtime for 3 hours, the inventive will be payable for the number of bags handled in excess of the number of bags required be handled in 3 hours as per the hourly norm.

Norm : 16 bags per hour per handling mazdoor.

- (A) Handling Incentive:

First 5 Bags above norm:

Full wages for 5 bags+ 8% extra

Next 5 bags :

Full wages for 5 bags+ 15% extra

Next 5 bags :

Full wages for 5 bags+ 35% extra

Beyond 15 bags :

Full Wages for the actual no of bags + 50%

extra

## Full wages means Basic Pay+DA+HRA

- (B) Stacking Incentive:

First 10 height :

Height Norm

Height at 11 & 12:  10 % of full wages for actual no of bags stacked at this height

Height at 13 & 14:  25%

- [ ] ----do----

Height at 15 & 16:  30%

- [ ] ----do----

Height at 17 & 18:  40%

- [ ] ----do----

Height 19 above:

50%

- [ ] ----do----

- (C) Lead incentive:

Upto 66' :

Lead norm

Lead 67' to 99' :

15% of full wages for actual no of bags carried

in this slab.

Lead 100' to 132' :

- [ ] 30%     ----do----

Lead 133' to 165' :

- [ ] 50%     ----do----

Lead 165' above :

100%  ----do----

****