Odisha to introduce e-muster roll for wage payment to labourers from Oct 2

The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said. E-muster roll refers to application of technology for keeping an oversight on payment of wages to labourers along with EPF/ESI deposits.

In a bid to ensure timely payment of wages to workers and prevent manipulation, the Odisha government on Tuesday decided to introduce an e-muster roll for laborers from October 2. The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.

E-muster roll refers to the application of technology for keeping an oversight on payment of wages to laborers along with EPF/ESI deposits. The move will ensure strict monitoring of minimum wages and timely deposit of ESI and EPF dues, the statement said.

The wages would be directly transferred to the bank accounts of laborers, it said. During the meeting through video conference, the chief minister directed the departments of Works, Water Resources, Panchayati Raj and Drinking water, Rural Development, and Housing and Urban Development to implement the initiative for projects worth over Rs 10 crore in the first phase from October 2.

He said all departments should have the system in place by January 1, 2021, for the universal implementation of the e-muster roll. The Works department will be the nodal department in this important initiative under the 5T (Transparency, Teamwork, Technology, Timely implementation leading to Transformation) charter of the chief minister.

Patnaik also emphasized on the use of robust technology in implementing this initiative along with enabling the legal framework. "All departments should have built-in systems for incentivizing and penal provisions," the statement quoted the chief minister as saying.

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