Nearly 8,000 state-employed unskilled labourers are being paid as lowly as Rs 100 a day and the government is examining a proposal to raise the amount to Rs 160 per day, PWD Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar and PHE Minister R C Laloo said.
Altogether 5,089 unskilled employees engaged for muster roll works in the PWD and another 2,910 unskilled employees in the PHE department were paid Rs 100 per day, they said.
The approved wage for skilled labourers is Rs 140, semi-skilled Rs 120 and unskilled Rs 100 per day, Dhar said.
In the revised wage pattern, an unskilled labourer will likely get Rs 160, a semi-skilled Rs 178 and a skilled Rs 185 per day.
The two ministers were replying to questions of Hills State Peoples' Democratic Party MLA Ardent Basaiawmoit, who had demanded an increase in the wages.