Gaps in Telangana Gig Workers Bill sparks public concern

People urge State government to revise the draft and fix the key issues before it is made a law

Hyderabad: After the State government released the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Bill, 2025 for public consultation, people from different sections have exposed a few lacunae in the draft Bill and want the government to fix them before it is made a law.

Nayini Anurag Reddy, an entrepreneur and public policy observer from Telangana listed out key gaps in the Bill, which is aimed at addressing the issues of gig workers, besides ensuring their welfare. Highlighting the gaps, he pointed out the lack of income benchmarks.

---

The Bill defers to “contractual payment” without setting minimum per-trip or per-kilometre earnings, leaving workers vulnerable to more exploitation, he said in a post on X.

Similarly, there was no real-time pay transparency. Workers were not shown a live fare breakdown before accepting a task, making it difficult to know what they would actually earn. Workers can be deactivated automatically by apps with no human appeal mechanism. The Bill lacks a provision for algorithm audits or AI accountability panels, he said. Further, Reddy said there was no State seed fund allocation.

Unlike Rajasthan, which announced Rs 200 crore as a starter welfare fund, Telangana’s Bill makes no such financial commitment, relying entirely on aggregator contributions. The Bill says “no delay” in pay but sets no fixed time limit. The Bill allows optional social security, but there was no mandate for accident, life, or health insurance — leaving workers and families exposed to risk, he pointed out.

Worker representatives were to be nominated by the government. There has to be actual, recognised gig worker unions. Ratings and experience were not portable across platforms. A 5-star worker on one app must start from zero on another, he pointed out.

The Bill does not also address discrimination faced by workers at buildings, society gates, or customer locations. Likewise, women workers were left out of safety frameworks. The Bill lacks POSH compliance, ICCs, and redressal systems for female gig workers, he said.

Telangana currently has over 5 lakh gig workers, impacting nearly 20 lakh people when families were also counted. This number was expected to rise to 13 lakh workers (50 lakh people) by 2029–30. This was not a fringe issue, it affects a significant portion of Telangana’s population, he added.