Ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Odisha assembly elections, the state government on Thursday announced that the daily minimum wages of workers would be raised in varied amounts.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the hike will benefit lakhs of workers belonging to unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and highly skilled categories.
While the minimum wage for unskilled workers has been increased from Rs 352 to Rs 450, it has been hiked from Rs 392 to Rs 500 for semi-skilled workers.
Skilled workers will get Rs 550 instead of Rs 442, while the minimum wage for highly skilled labourers has been raised from Rs 502 to Rs 600.
The workers engaged in both the government and private sectors to get such benefits, a CMO release said.
Patnaik also announced a 4-per cent increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief for state government employees and pensioners.
With the latest hike, the DA and DR rose to 50 per cent from 46 per cent.
At a time when the talks between Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party for a possible alliance have not been sealed, such measures appear like ways to lure voters ahead of the polls.
Moreover, Odisha is gearing up for both Lok Sabha and assembly elections. So every move of the government is being witnessed as a ploy to reap political dividends in these polls.
Follow us
