Karnataka panchayat workers may take their demand for legally mandated minimum wages to the streets after the state government failed to implement a notification issued on May 22, according to Legislative Council member C.T. Ravi. Ravi has written to Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar seeking immediate action to extend the wage benefit to gram panchayat employees.
In his letter, Ravi said the notification guaranteeing minimum wages to workers in the state’s gram panchayats had been issued by the Labour Department, but employees had not received its benefits because implementation was delayed. He urged the government to secure the Finance Department’s approval so that the notification could take effect.
Gram panchayat employees perform a range of responsibilities at the local-government level. Ravi said their work should be recognised while determining the wages legally due to them. He described the delay as an injustice to workers who are responsible for different functions within gram panchayats.
The issue has now moved beyond an administrative demand. Thousands of gram panchayat workers who are dissatisfied with the delay are planning a padayatra from the Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru to Bengaluru on the 12th, the report said. The proposed march is intended to press the government to implement the minimum-wage notification without further delay.
The dispute highlights the gap that can arise between issuing a government notification and putting its financial provisions into operation. In this case, the Labour Department’s notification is reported to have established the basis for minimum wages, while approval from the Finance Department is still being sought for implementation. Until that administrative step is completed, workers covered by the notification have not received the stated benefit, according to Ravi.
The matter also places responsibility across more than one part of the state administration. The Chief Minister’s office has been approached through the letter to D.K. Shivakumar, while the Labour Department is linked to the notification and the Finance Department is expected to approve the financial implications. The implementation of the order will therefore depend on coordination between these departments and the gram panchayat system.
Ravi has asked the government to act immediately and apply the minimum-wage provision to gram panchayat employees in accordance with the Labour Department notification. The next visible step is the proposed padayatra from Tumakuru to Bengaluru on the 12th, unless the administration resolves the demand before then.
