The Deputy Commissioner of New Delhi has accepted the plea of the morcha that payment of nominal wage (less than the statutorily fixed minimum wage) is criteria enough for identifying a bonded labourer, morcha chairperson Swami Agnivesh stated in a press release today.

The victims were migrant labourers from Lalitpur district of U.P. and Katihar and Jamui districts of Bihar who have been living for three months on a Jantar Mantar Road pavement. MTNL contractors were paying them only Rs 60 per day violating the minimum wage of Rs 74.50, he said.

The swami said the labourers will also be entitled to a rehabilitation package of Rs 10,000 each, in addition to the arrears of back wages. In Delhi alone, there are a little more than a million migrant labourers working in the construction sector and in small factories who are being denied minimum wages as fixed by the state government. This is in spite of the fact that a task force has been constituted to enforce minimum wage in Delhi, he added.