NEW DELHI: The government today admitted to confronting problems in the implementation of the Migrant Labour Act and said it would examine the recommendations of a Committee which had been appointed to look into the issue.

Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said in Rajya Sabha in reply to a 30-minute discussion on inter-state migration of labourers that the issue was discussed in February at the Indian Labour Conference.

Consequently, a Committee was constituted to look into the matter. The Committee had already submitted its report to the government last month.

''We are going to examine what is to be done,'' he said adding that there were 14 crore migrant labourers in the country according to 2001 census.

The discussion was in response to the points arising out of the answers given on March 10 to a starred question regarding migration of labourers.

Initiating the discussion, Mr Rajiv Pratap Rudy, BJP, wanted to know from the government about the status of Kashmiri Pandits who were forced out of the valley in 1990, whether they could be classified as migrants and where the government had any figures.

Mr Rudy also wanted to know about infiltration in the Chicken Neck area along Indo-Bangladesh border.

He also sought information from the Minister about Chinese workers in the country and if 2 crore migrant workers went out of Maharashtra.

He disputed the claims by the Minister about 2 crore migrant workers from Maharashtra saying it was an exaggerated figure.

Mr Ram Chandra Kuntia, Congress, wanted improvement in the condition of inter-state migrant workers, specially those who had come to Delhi from other states to work for Commonwealth Games.

He said the Migrant Labour Act was ''without teeth' and asked whether the government would consider strengthening it to improve the condition of migrant workers.

Mr Santosh Bagrodia, Congress, demanded that migrant labourers should be looked after employers. He also called for strengthening labour laws.

Mohammed Amin, CPM, said the Migrant Labour Act was not perfect and needed to be strengthened.