Bhubaneswar, Oct. 10: The Odisha government today notified the revised minimum wages for daily labourers working in various industries in the state.

Minimum wage for unskilled labourers has been fixed at Rs 150 per day. The same rate will also be applicable to agricultural labourers. The government has also introduced a separate wage rate of Rs 126 for non-ploughing agricultural labourers.

The existing wage rate for unskilled workers was Rs 92.50, which has now gone up by more than 50 per cent.

Similarly, wages for the semi-skilled labourers have been revised to Rs 170 from Rs 105.50, while those for the skilled and highly-skilled labourers have been increased to Rs 190 and Rs 205, respectively. Earlier, skilled labourers used to get Rs 118.50 per day while highly-skilled labourers earned Rs 131.50.

On October 3, The Telegraph had reported the government decision to revise minimum wages for all categories of workers.

The wage revision has been effected after a gap of three years following demand from trade unions and activists.

Trade union leaders, who were members of the State-Level Minimum Wage Advisory Board, had resigned en masse two months ago to protest against the delay in effecting a wage revision. On April 11, The Telegraph had also reported on the migration of workforce from Odisha because of the low wages here vis-à-vis other states. The minimum wage rates for unskilled labourers in Odisha was Rs 92.50, while it is Rs 186 in Andhra Pradesh, Rs 162 in Bengal, Rs 159 in Chhattisgarh and Rs 147 in Jharkhand. Even labourers working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme used to get Rs 125 per day in Odisha.