Ludhiana, April 26 -- As many as 85 contractual employees, who have been working for years at wages far below the prescribed district collector (DC) rates, will soon get a pay hike, officials said on Saturday. A proposal is set to be cleared by the authorities concerned soon, they said.

Officials said that the hospital administration took cognisance of the long-standing disparity, where workers deployed across multiple departments were being paid less than the minimum daily wage rates fixed by the district administration. Officials said the revised wages will now be aligned with the mandated DC rates, addressing a key grievance that has persisted for several years.

Officials said the issue of low wages for contractual staff is not new a...