Minister calls on private sector to set up internal complaints panel

KOLKATA: State Women and Child Development minister Shashi Panja urged the private sector to make internal complaints committee (ICC) compulsory at workplaces and revisit the entire structure of ICC. If already in place, to effectively address complaints of sexual abuse or harassment against women.

“In state government offices, we have made ICC compulsory. I will urge that the same be done at all workplaces in the private sector, be it in a hotel, school, college or any other workplace,” Panja said while addressing the 123rd annual general meeting (AGM) of Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( MCCI) on Wednesday.

The minister appealed to the business community, who attended the meeting, to sensitise their employees on the laws in connection with prevention of sexual harassment in workplace. Panja said to commemorate the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the state government has been holding an employment fair in the city. She urged for more participation of the private sector in the fair so that the disabled who are good educational achievers get employment opportunities. She called for disabled-friendly features in workplaces to bring balance in the working environment.

In response to the request from MCCI for examining the Urban Land Ceiling Act, Panja, who is also in charge of the Industries and Commerce department, said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is thinking on this front.

She maintained that the state has undertaken extensive mapping of land for industrial and economic corridors beside the national highways (10 km on both sides), right from Darjeeling More in Murshidabad district to Falta in South 24-Parganas. The exercise is over in the entire south Bengal and is presently going on in north Bengal under the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.