During the monitoring carried out by the State Labor Inspection, 8 officials who allowed forced labor during the cotton harvesting season were identified, and measures were taken against them based on Part 1 of Article 51 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility. They were fined from 50 to 100 times the BCA.
Among those punished is Nigora Jumaeva, the deputy khokim of Kumkorgan district, Surkhandarya region. Her audio recordings related to mobilizing people for the cotton harvest spread on social networks and caused discussions.
During the season, 74 cases of labor law violations were identified. For these offenses, administrative fines were applied to officials based on Part 1 of Article 49.
Furthermore, practical assistance was provided in concluding seasonal labor contracts with more than 1,400 pickers.
At the end of September, it was reported that 3 more officials were punished in similar cases. Among them was Dildoza Toshmatova, deputy khokim of Sariosiyo district — she was fined 20.6 million soums.
The Ministry of Agriculture had previously announced a indicative price of 2,000 soums for 1 kg of hand-picked cotton and 1,373 soums for machine-harvested cotton.
