Wage revision ‘token and inadequate’, says Dattatreya

Hyderabad

Former Governor and former Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya criticised the government for what he termed as a “token and inadequate” revision of minimum wages.

In a statement here on Friday, he said that the issue of minimum wage revision has remained pending for nearly 14 years, and despite prolonged delay, the Telangana government has merely adopted a cosmetic approach instead of implementing a comprehensive and realistic wage structure. He remarked that the present wage increase does not reflect the harsh economic realities faced by working class families.

Mr. Dattatreya expressed serious concern over the rising burden of education expenses, medical costs, house rents, transport charges. He particularly highlighted the steep rise in living expenses in metropolitan cities like Hyderabad and stressed that unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, and highly skilled workers must be paid wages that match present-day living conditions.

He pointed out that nearly 1 crore 20 lakh workers in Telangana have been waiting for a fair and meaningful wage revision and said the aspirations of the labour community cannot be ignored any longer.

Demanding a realistic revision of wages, he urged the government to fix minimum wages to at least ₹22,000 for unskilled workers, ₹27,000 for semi-skilled workers, ₹31,000 for skilled workers and ₹36,000 for highly skilled workers.