Vedike seeks rights for domestic helps

The Tulunadu Rakshana Vedike has demanded that both domestic workers and employers be registered with the Labour Department to protect their rights.

M.G. Hegde, adviser to the vedike, told presspersons here on Sunday that people employing domestic help should give details of the employees and furnish their own particulars to the department.

Mr. Hegde said the vedike was receiving several complaints of women domestic helps getting trapped in strange circumstances and that they needed to be rescued. In some cases, women were being forced to work to repay debts. Mangalore was becoming a destination for luring women from other districts on the pretext of offering jobs and forcing them into prostitution, Mr. Hedge claimed.

Besides, Naxalism, terrorism and other criminal activities were rising in the coastal region. If this was done, workers would not be exploited by the employers and in case domestic workers committed some offence and disappeared, they could be traced, he said.

Demands

Mr. Hegde demanded that minimum wages be applicable to domestic helps. Employers should open bank accounts in the names of such workers. The district administration could rope in students of social work who go on community visits to collect the information from people.

President of the vedike Yogish Shetty spoke.