E-Paper
Lockdown: Goa allows factories to have 12-hour shifts due to ‘shortage of workers’
Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers Vivek Marathe, who issued the notification on Friday, said the decision has been taken because of the shortage of workers in the state due to the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 .
Goa will allow factories and industries to employ workers in 12-hours shifts a day and up to sixty hours a week till July 31.
Chief Inspector of Factories and Boilers Vivek Marathe, who issued the notification on Friday, said the decision has been taken because of the shortage of workers in the state due to the ongoing lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 .
“There are restrictions on movement of workers leading to shortage of workers, thereby causing the factories to deal with an exceptional press of work. There is a need for relaxing certain provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 thereby extending the working hours for optimum utilization of the workers in the factories which have been allowed to operate during the shutdown.
The Pramod Sawant-led government’s decision comes a day after Madhya Pradesh took a similar decision, increasing the factory shifts from eight to 12 hours in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.
As per the relaxations granted, the total number of hours of work in any day shall not exceed twelve while spread over, inclusive of intervals for rest, shall not exceed thirteen hours in any one day.
The total number of hours of work in any week, including overtime has also been amended to reflect the change and now shall not exceed sixty.
It is also mandated that no worker shall work for more than five hours before he has had an interval of at least half an hour and that where a worker works in a factory for more than forty-eight hours in any week, s/he shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages at the rate of twice his ordinary rate of wages.
The Centre recently announced relaxation in curbs during nationwide lockdown to revive the economy.
