Furore in House over ‘exploitation’ of outsourced employees, Congress stages walkout

Pandemonium ensued in the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday after speaker Vipin Singh Parmar disallowed the opposition from raising a supplementary question

Pandemonium ensued in the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday after speaker Vipin Singh Parmar disallowed the opposition from raising a supplementary question on the disparity in salaries of outsourced employees in the state. The Congress, subsequently, staged a walkout in protest.

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The Congress legislator from Barsar, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, had raised the query. Congress and BJP leaders, thereafter, traded accusations over the government’s hiring of outsourced employees. While the Congress alleged that the said employees were being exploited, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said it was the Congress government that had made hollow promises to outsourced employees during the fag end of its tenure.

“When in power, the Congress had promised government jobs to the outsourced employees during a convention held at the government-run Hotel Peterhoff,” Thakur said.

Dismissing the question, Parmar proceeded with question hour. Agitated Congress members stood on their benches and started raising slogans. Members of the ruling party countered them. Members of the opposition then staged a walkout.

Cong leaders frustrated over Scindia’s departure: CM

The CM said that the opposition had made it a habit to stage walkouts and attributed the incident to the Congress’ frustration over party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia’s departure from the grand old party.

Lakhanpal wanted to know the steps taken by the government to safeguard the future of outsourced employees. “Outsource employees work for 12 to 15 hours a day for paltry wages of ₹3,000.” said Lakhanpal.

The CM said the outsourced staff were employed with service provider companies and not with the government and thus recruitment and promotion rules did not apply to outsourced employees. He said there was provision in the agreement with service provider companies that the employees be paid an honorarium as per the Minimum Wages Act.

“During the tenure of the present state government, the wages of daily wages labours have been increased three times. The government is ensuring that outsourced employees are not exploited. Just like government employees, the companies that outsource staff have made provisions for travel allowance, daily allowance, medical leave and maternity leave. It is mandatory for companies to issue a salary slip.”

The CM said the government had provided jobs to 17,707 people and will create 15,315 posts in government departments in the near future. CPI(M) legislator Rakesh Singha asked questions about the gratuity of employees. However, the CM said the matter was under consideration.