Union Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Wednesday said that a number of "unprecedented steps" have been taken by the Union Government for labour welfare and employment including for migrant workers across India during COVID-19 pandemic.

Elaborating it, the minister said, "Labour is in the concurrent list and therefore, both State and Central Governments can legislate on the issues. Further, most of the Central Labour Acts including the Migrant Labour Act is being implemented exclusively by the state government."

Gangwar further informed that after the lockdown, directions were sent from the Ministry of Labour and Employment to all the state governments/Union territories instructing them to provide financial assistance to construction workers from Building and Other Construction Workers' Cess Fund.

"Till date, about 2 crore migrant workers have been provided Rs 5,000 crores directly in their bank accounts from Building and other Construction Workers' Cess Fund being maintained by various states. In order to resolve the grievances of migrant workers during the lockdown, the Ministry of Labour and Employment had set up 20 Control Rooms all over the country," the Union Minister said.

He also stated that during the lockdown, more than 15000 complaints of the workers were resolved through these Control Rooms and due to the intervention of his ministry and more than 2,00,000 workers were paid their due wages amounting to about Rs 295 crores.

It is worth noticing that the Ministry of Labour and Employment has also issued advisory guidelines for all the state governments/UTs on July 27, 2020.

"Under a notice, states/Union Territories have been directed to nominate a State Level Nodal Officer to coordinate the implementation of various measures for the welfare of migrant workers who are coming back for employment," Gangwar said.