Maharashtra women to be allowed for work in night shifts
The state cabinet decided to amend the Factories Act, 1948 during a meeting in Mumbai, which was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Earlier, section 66 (1) (c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory between 7 PM and 6 AM. The managements will have to ensure security of working women during this time.
The Cabinet also decided to make necessary changes in the Factories Act, 1948 which will lead to 14,300 factories being free from 'inspector raj'.
The Cabinet also approved setting up Indian Institute of Information Technology at Nagpur and Pune. Land for Nagpur IIIT will be given at Waranga and for Pune IIIT at Chakan. Cabinet also decided to adopt stringent measures to tackle illegal mining of transportation of minerals.
In a bid to encourage growth of small-scale industries (SSI). Nearly 14,300 small-scale units will be freed from the inspector raj and about 190,000 new jobs will be created in the state.
At present, smaller industries may be excluded from the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948, which mandates safety guidelines and working conditions, applies to units with more than 10 workers in premises with power supply and 20 workers in premises without power. However, with the proposed amendment the limit has been increased from 20 and 40 workers.
