Plantation Labour Act to be more stringent

New Delhi, May 4 (UNI) The government proposes to make Plantation Labour Act, 1951 more stringent to ensure welfare and safety of workers, Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes has said.

It is necessary to amend the Act to enable the Centre to prohibit, restrict or regulate employment of women and children below 14 years for handling hazardous chemicals in plantations, Mr Fernandes told the Consultative Ministry attached to his Ministry yesterday.

He said safety precautions should be made part of the Act, particularly in handling of agro-chemicals such as insecticides and herbicides.

''The basic approach to changes in the Act should be to increase the competitiveness of the plantation industry and to build on the capacity of the workforce employed,'' an official release quoted him as having said.

Mr Fernandes also referred to proposed amendments to the Employees' Provident Fund and Misc. Provisions Act (EPF&MP Act) to secure compliance and to arrest the default by establishments.

Mr Fernandes said his Ministry was aware of the default by some establishments to the tune of about Rs 2,500 crore, which was a little over one per cent of the total progressive collection.

He said comuterisation was one of the measures taken by the EPFO to curtail default and improve service delivery.

Its aim is to identify the default immediately on its occurrence and also to provide service delivery on anywhere, anytime basis.

''The project is now at a critical stage and the trial run in the pilot offices is already on. It will be soon replicated in all the field offices of the EPFO,'' he added.

Participating in the meeting, Members of Parliament Gurudas Dasgupta and Dawa Narbula welcomed the proposed amendments to the Plantation Labour Act and the EPF and MP Act.

These Acts, they said, should be implemented more effectively particularly in tea gardens.

They said managements of plantations were committing default by not depositing EPF deductions of the employees which was a serious offence.

Mr Dasgupta said the default was maximum in Jute and Tea industry. He wanted that non-payment of the employees share to Employees' Provident Fund be made a punishable offence with imprisonment.

UNI