Gangtok, April 4: The minimum daily wage of labourers in Sikkim has been increased to Rs 100-Rs 150 depending on their level of skill, making them one of the best paid workforce in the country.

There is good news for government employees as well. The cabinet on Wednesday also approved the proposal to revise their dearness allowance (DA) from the existing rate of 41 per cent to 47 per cent with effect from April 1, 2008.

For labourers, the current minimum wage of Rs 85 has been discarded in favour of a four-tier pay package for different categories of work in both government and private sectors.

The additional secretary of the state labour department, P.W. Rinzing, said the slabs are Rs 100 for the unskilled, Rs 115 for the semi-skilled, Rs 135 for the skilled and Rs 150 for the highly skilled. Ringzing’s department will be in charge of the classification.

The new system is expected to be implemented with retrospective effect from April 1.

Labourers as well as muster roll and work charged employees will benefit from the hike. The last two categories comprise workers recruited by the government for specific projects.

About 4,000 workers are engaged in medium and micro industries of the state, along with a large number of muster roll employees. If the private sector is taken into account, the total workforce will be around 12,000 strong.

The labour department is also in the process of registering all day workers employed in the state for security purposes. The labourers will be issued photo identity cards that will include their present and permanent addresses.