Nagpur: Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) has clarfied wages for Mathadi workers, for handling of steel material at railway siding, are highest in the entire country, and, these are extortionist rates, being the rates brought due to political muscle power and bureaucratic apathy.
VIA further said that High Court, Nagpur Bench, took suomotu, cognizance of illegalities being operating in the Mathadi system, by way of PIL, after it set right the similar sinister system prevailing in the FCI. The Lawyer for the Board, himself has admitted in the Court, that wages are in the range of Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 60,000/- per month.
VIA has further stated that the entire working is fully mechanised, and the Mathadi workers are not required to carry the load on their head or shoulders; the visit to railway siding would prove the same.
It has said that the salary is for working for couple of hours in a day and few days in the month.
The report obtained by the VIA from the professional Cost Accountant shows that the per ton wages should in the range of Rs. 0.70 paisa to couple of rupees. While the rates fixed by the Mathadi Board are from the range of Rs.74 /- to Rs. 128/- per ton, which are several hundred times more than the minimum wages.
VIA said that such wages are not drawn even by the top officer in the rank of Cabinet Secretary to the Government.
The employers have obtained the report from the National Productivity Council, a Government of India organisation, that 8 to 20 of workers are required to handle one rail rake for vacating the steel material, while the Board is deputing 80 to 180 workers, each of whom work for 30 minutes to two hours.
The working of amount, based on the report of Mathadi Board, which has been filed in the Court, would demonstrate inferences.
