Rs 50cr for welfare of migrant workers

Finance minister T M Thomas Isaac tipped his hat to

migrant

labourers working in the state by referring to their contribution as ‘invaluable’ and by allocating Rs 50 crore to their

welfare

fund during the budget speech on Friday.

The minister said that the government would conduct a comprehensive study on the living conditions of migrant labourers and would ensure that they are enrolled in the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY), a health insurance scheme run by the government to medically insure workers falling below the poverty line.

“Voluntary registration in this scheme can be expected only through the enhancement of benefits from this welfare fund. The allotted amount will be provided from the building construction cess. Steps will be initiated to enhance cess collection,” said Isaac.

“The Kerala Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board has around Rs 1,000 crore worth of corpus fund collected through cess and around half of the migrant labourers working in Kerala are in the construction industry,” said A Alexander, additional labour commissioner.

Najeeb Zackeria, chairman of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai), Kerala, said that most migrants work under the organized sector.

In his budget speech, Issac also added that the government would be setting up ‘facilitation centres’ to provide prompt legal assistance and government services to migrant labourers.