Conduct fresh survey of children below 14 yrs: Minister to State

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, Jan 6: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Labour & Employment Bandaru Dattatreya asked the Government of Meghalaya to carry a fresh survey on children below 14 years who are engaged in occupations that violated the rights.

Speaking on the sidelines of the official programme of the stone laying ceremony of the Regiol Labour Institute (RLI), Dattatreya said, “the fresh survey should e carried out in order to ensure that the children below the age should enjoy a healthy, educated and joyful life during the growing age”

As he stressed on the issues of underage workers in the different parts of the North Eastern region, the Union Minister was also apt in pointing about safe, clean environment as well as a healthy working condition, social justice that could be achieved through education, training, consultation and exchange of information and good practices are essential for prevention and promotion of such measures. Ensuring safety and health of the workmen is an essential element for the sustaible growth of the industry, added the Union Minister of State.

The Union Minister of State also said that the occupatiol safety and health scerio in the country is changing very fast due to technological advancement and hence urged all stakeholders to work together with utmost sincerity to achieve the goal of ensuring holistic occupatiol safety and health at workplaces. He hope that the new Regiol Labour Institute being established at Shillong will be a new milestone in strengthening the safety and health movement in the northeastern region by creating more and more skilled manpower in the area of safety and health. The objective of establishing the Regiol Labour Institute, Shillong is to strengthen the industrial safety and health in the North Eastern States coming under the jurisdiction of the Institute. This institute will impart training and consultancy services in the area of occupatiol safety & health. The Institute will run the long- term educatiol courses and professiol programmes in safety and health.

It may be mentioned here that this will be the sixth Labour Institute under Directorate General, Factory Advice service & Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India.  The other five Institutes are located at Mumbai, Cheni, Kanpur, Kolkata and Faridabad. The DGFASLI is an attached office of the Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India and serves as a technical arm to assist the Ministry in formulating tiol policies on occupatiol safety and health in factories and docks.

The New Regiol Labour Institute which is being setup by DGFASLI, Ministry of Labour & Employment at Shillong for the North East Region and its jurisdiction will be the North East states of Assam, Aruchal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, galand, Sikkim and Tripura.

The land for construction of the Institute has been made available by the Government of Meghalaya.  The Institute will have a four storey building comprising Office and Hostel Block. The Regiol Labour Institute Shillong will have Industrial safety, Industrial Hygiene, Industrial Medicine, Industrial Physiology/Ergonomics, Major Hazard Control & Chemical Safety and Safety, Health & Environment Exhibition Center divisions.