Event to explain schemes turns controversial
Picture for representational purpose
Chennai: An event, organised by the Chennai district collector and labour department, inviting state ministers and unorganised workers, ran into controversy on Friday night. The office-bearers said the event was to generate awareness about the scheme, but a few beneficiaries alleged it was a political stunt. “About 4,000 members from the unorganised sectors ran from pillar to post on Friday to obtain interim relief of a few thousand rupees for their children’s education, and were also forced to participate in a function at Shenoy Nagar,” alleged V. Sathiabalan, one of the beneficiaries.
“Though the promised relief of Rs 3,000 was deposited to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts through electronic clearance we were given tokens to use.”“Chennai revenue inspectors and tahsildars summoned us last week to issue tokens, wasting a whole day. Then the tokens were again cross-checked at the venue, wasting another four hours,” said another beneficiary, who works for a construction firm.
The authorities had a different version of the merits. “The Chief Minister has announced many schemes recently in the assembly and many workers in the unorganised sector are clueless about the benefits. The number of people enrolled with the labour department in Chennai is not encouraging,” said labour commissioner P. Amudha. “We wanted the beneficiaries to be our brand ambassadors for the schemes and spread the message, but in Chennai they failed to participate and also never invited friends who were eligible for the event, where the enrollment process was explained,” she added.
Chennai collector E. Sundarawalli and the city revenue department, responsible for the poor show, failed to respond. A highly placed government official said, “It is a statewide campaign to promote labour welfare schemes, like cash relief for death, interim relief for accidents and ex-gratia for education purposes, covering construction workers, tailors and drivers.”
“In rural pockets, the response was good, beneficiaries participated with their colleagues, it pushed the enrollments of labourers in the state, but not in the city,” admitted the official.
( Source : dc )
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