The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Member of the Parliament (MP) from the Lhamoizingkha-Tashiding constituency, Hemant Gurung, during the Question Hour session, questioned the Prime Minister (PM) on what is being done to increase the daily wage of the National Work Force (NWF) in the country.
He said, “Our government had pledged to raise the daily wage of NWF after conducting a thorough study. During the pay revision in 2019, the daily wage revision for NWF was not mentioned. However, we submitted to the government on the issue, and the Prime Minister told us that NWF will receive an increased daily wage rate.”
Considering the present situation, MP Hemant Gurung said that the cost of commodities in the country has escalated, which has caused difficulties in livelihood. Thereby, he asked when the government plans to start rolling out the increased wage rate.
There are around 2,800 NWF in the country that is divided into five categories. There are skilled laborers engaged in lhakhang restoration works, while there are unskilled workers and many NWF working on the road construction sites.
Lyonchhen Dasho Dr Lotay Tshering, in response, said that the same issue was discussed in the earlier session as well.
“Though we have given an increment to those skilled NWF who are mostly working at the lhakhang restoration projects, we were unable to give an increment to those working in the Department of Road and unskilled workers,” Lyonchhen added.
The unskilled NWF workers earn Nu 215 per day, whereby the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, and Ministry or Works and Human Settlement after thorough research have submitted a report to the government, recommending increasing the daily wage to be increased to Nu 420 to Nu 450 per day.
“The situation would be different by now, had it not been the pandemic. For now, it is difficult to say on when the wage will be revised, but we are hopeful to do as soon as the country’s economy reaches a stable stage,” PM said.
Everything will depend upon the internal income and on the country’s economy, Lyonchhen said, adding that the workers really deserve it.
