Maha to allow women to work in night shifts in factories

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to make necessary changes in the Factories Act, 1948 to allow women to work in factories in night shifts. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Earlier, Section 66 (1) (c) of the Factories Act, 1948 restricted women from working at a factory 

between 7pm and 6am. Now that has been done away with, an official said.

The managements will have to ensure <g data-gr-id="20">security</g> of women working in night shift.

The Cabinet also decided to make necessary changes in the Factories Act, 1948 which will lead to 14,300 factories being free from ‘inspector raj’.

The Cabinet also approved setting up Indian Institute of Information Technology at Nagpur and Pune. Land for Nagpur IIIT will be given at <g data-gr-id="21">Waranga</g> and for Pune IIIT at Chakan. The Cabinet also decided to adopt stringent measures to tackle illegal mining of transportation of minerals. 

The government has also decided to set up a polytechnic for minorities at Muktainagar in Jalgaon district, from where Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse hails.