Act governing scribes should be made stringent: Official

Hyderabad, May 22 (UNI) Central Regional Labour Commmissioner D Ramanakumar today said the Act governing the working conditions of journalists should be amended to provide stringent punishment to those not implementing the recommendations of the Wage Boards.

Participating in a one-day interactive tripartite workshop on Wage Boards for Newspaper Employees and implementation of their recommendations, he noted that though the Wage Boards enjoyed statutory backing, their recommendations were not implemented as punishment awarded to violators was not severe.

For any violation of the Wage Board's recommendations for the first time, the fine was only Rs 200 and for any subsequent violation, it was only Rs 500.

The Act should be amended to provide for stringent punishment to violators, including imprisonment, he opined at the workshop organised by the Central Board for Workers' Education, coming under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment.

State Labour Joint Commissioner P V Muralisagar said the State Government was finding it difficult to implement the provisions of the Act as in many cases the employment of stringers was ''informal.'' Inaugurating the workshop, Andhra Pradesh Press Academy Chairman D Amar lamented that contractualisation and commercialisation had become the order of the day in the industry unlike the pre-independence days when freedom fighters, including Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, ran newspapers and journals as non-profit organisations.

UNI SM VA SKB US1811