Team Herald

PANJIM: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has urged Governor Mridula Sinha to withhold assent to the recently passed The Factories (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Legislative Assembly that allows women to work during the night shifts.

Party President Girish Chodankar has written to the Governor expressing concern over the safety of women during the late hours demanding to not give assent to the Bill and instead refer it to the President of India Ram Nath Kovind. 

“The GPCC is deeply distressed with the introduction and passing of The Factories (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2019 by the Goa Legislative Assembly and objects to the passing of this Bill for the legal and social reasons (explained in the letter to the Governor) and demands that the assent to the Bill be withheld and that the same be referred to the President of India,” Chodankar stated.

The party has cited two instances of rape and murder of women employees at Bangalore and Pune while also adding that women become victims to change in work timings. “Whatever precautions are taken, the working environment for women in night shifts will always be a threat to their safety and security. Even as sought to be assured that consent of the woman would have to be taken before giving her night shift duty, such consent will always be under threat of making them redundant or transferring them and finally getting rid of the woman who does not agree to the night shift duty,” Chodankar added. 

The party also apprehends that night shifts could bring an imbalance into the personal and professional life of a working woman. The party president went on to add that this could be a back-door means to bring in people from other places and deprive the Goans of jobs in the factories in Goa.

“Goa has a very low crime rate against women compared to rest of the country. Granting assent to such legislation would also increase the index of crime rate against women, and Goa will be further dragged into infamy with such crimes. To meet the demand for employment of women, the establishments can be directed to employ a certain percentage of women during the normal working hours and the industry will surely co-operate to meet the objectives of such a laudable move,” he stated.  

The House on August 1 passed the amendment amidst from opposition benches demanding that the Bill be referred to the Select Committee. The government has clarified that no woman will be forced to work in night shifts.