5 die, 129 test positive in Jalandhar District - The Tribune

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5 die, 129 test positive in Jalandhar District - The Tribune Posted: 08 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT Tribune News Service Jalandhar, October 7 With five more people losing battle against Covid, the toll climbed to 422 in the district on Wednesday. Similarly, 129 people tested positive for the virus, taking the district tally to 13,680. As many as 12,098 people have been discharged so far, while 1,160 were still active and 849 people were under home isolation in Jalandhar. Meanwhile in Kapurthala, 29 people tested positive for Covid on Wednesday. Two deaths were reported from the district including that of a 65-year-old man from Nasairabad village, who died at PGI, Chandigarh; and a 70-year-old woman from Nangal Lubana village, who died at GMC Patiala. 44 test +ve in Hoshiarpur With the emergence of 44 new cases in Hoshiarpur district, the total number of Covid patients has risen to 4893. Civil Surgeon Dr. Jasbir Singh said that with the taking of new samples of 1750 people with suspected flu-like symptoms, the total number of samples taken so far in the district has gone up to 117313. According to reports from the lab, 111226 are negative, while 1663 reports are awaited and 127 are invalid. The number of active cases in the district is 581 and 4135 patients have recovered. The death toll so far is 177. Out of 44 positive cases found in the district today, 13 cases are from Hoshiarpur city, while the remaining 31 cases are related to other health blocks. Nawanshahr reports two deaths, 8 positive cases Two Covid deaths were reported in Nawanshahr on Wednesday. Both patients had co-morbidities. A 79-year-old resident of Sujjon block suffering from hypertension died during treatment in Ludhiana while a 72-year-old resident from Muzaffarpur block was suffering from kidney, liver and heart disease and also died in Ludhiana. A total of eight cases were reported from Nawanshahr today. So far, 56 deaths have been reported from Nawanshahr and there are 169 active cases so far. As per the information, as many as 838 samples were collected on Wednesday. At present, a total of 26 Covid patients are in home-isolation. Govt to give Rs 50 Lakh ex-gratia if sanitation worker dies of Covid Hoshiarpur: Punjab Safai Karamchari Commission chairman Geja Ram Valmiki said the Commission was committed to safeguarding the rights of safai sewaks (sanitationn workers). During a meeting with municipal officials and sanitation workers in Hoshiarpur on Wednesday, he said Rs50 lakh ex-gratia would be given by the Punjab Government, if any sanitation worker dies of Covid. He said the Commission was visiting different districts of the state to find out about it so that no needy worker was left deprived of the benefit. Geja Ram said he had come to know through the municipal authorities that none of the sweepers in the district had died of corona, which was a good news. While replying to a question of journalists, he said the Commission had written to the government to ensure regularisation of sanitation workers (hired on contract or outsourced) hoping that in the coming days more recruitment of sanitation workers would be made. He said social justice was the right of every citizen and no sanitation worker or sewerman would be allowed to be exploited. He said the initiative of the government was to provide clean environment and social justice to all. OC

Clothing factory in UK faces modern slavery probe - The Tribune India Posted: 05 Jul 2020 12:00 AM PDT London, July 5 A clothing factory named Jaswal Fashions based in the eastern England city of Leicester faces a modern slavery investigation after an undercover reporter alleged sweatshop-like conditions and below minimum wage payments to its workers, many of them from India. According to 'The Sunday Times', its undercover reporter found that workers were being paid as little as 3.50 pounds an hour as against the UK's legal minimum wage of 8.72 pounds an hour and was also operating last week during the localised coronavirus lockdown imposed on the city. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel described the allegations as "truly appalling" and commended the undercover investigation for its role in "uncovering such abhorrent practices". "I will not tolerate sick criminals forcing innocent people into slave labour and a life of exploitation," said Patel. "Let this be a warning to those who are exploiting people in sweatshops like these for their own commercial gain. This is just the start. What you are doing is illegal, it will not be tolerated and we are coming after you," she said. Last week, the senior Cabinet minister had directed the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate modern slavery allegations in Leicester's clothing factories after alarm was raised that they were a key source of the spike in coronavirus infections in the region, which led to England's first localised COVID-19 lockdown for the city. "Within the last few days NCA officers, along with Leicestershire police and other partner agencies, attended a number of business premises in the Leicester area to assess concerns of modern slavery and human trafficking," the NCA said, which is looking into the undercover reports. The UK's Modern Slavery Act was passed in 2015, making it a crime to exploit labour and not pay the minimum wage. The newspaper's undercover reporter spent two days at Jaswal Fashions, a factory which supplies garments to one of Britain's fastest-growing online retailer Boohoo, which owns labels such as Nasty Gal, PrettyLittleThing, MissPap, BoohooMAN, Karen Millen and Coast. A statement from Nasty Gal said the company would investigate the newspaper's claims, but insisted that Jaswal Fashions was not a "direct supplier". "Nasty Gal does not allow any of its suppliers to pay less than the minimum wage and has a zero-tolerance approach to incidences of modern slavery," said Nasty Gal in a statement. "We have terminated relationships with suppliers where evidence of non-compliance with our strict code of conduct is found. We will take immediate steps to fully investigate the allegations raised and if the allegations are substantiated we will ensure that our suppliers immediately cease working with Jaswal Fashions," it added. The boxes packed at the factory displayed the name Morefray Limited, another Leicester-based clothing manufacturer. The newspaper said that the man who was identified as the boss of the factory refused to answer questions in detail, but said: "We have legit staff."          The campaign group Labour Behind the Label alleged recently that factories in Leicester making Boohoo garments had put staff at risk of contracting COVID-19, by pressuring them to work without proper personal protective equipment (PPE) or social distancing. "Emerging evidence indicates that conditions in Leicester's factories, primarily producing for Boohoo, are putting workers at risk of COVID-19 infections and fatalities as some factories have remained open for production during the lockdown, whilst others are now re-opening," the group claimed in its report. The allegations are denied by Boohoo, which said it uses about 150 factories in Leicester, employing 50 people each on average. Company CEO John Lyttle told the newspaper that he had "personally written to all the factories", outlining company standards and what they need to do in terms of following the "government guidelines". PTI

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