Vijayawada: Chandranna Beema, the dream project of the Chief Minister was not reflected in the Budget, and the issue of allocating funds to this scheme was put aside by the government. In fact, the ministry of labour proposed Rs 412.80 crore for the 2017-18 fiscal year. However, during the pre-Budget discussion, the government asked the authorities to put the issue aside for sometime. Interestingly, the Budget papers haven’t made any mention about the scheme, which led to discussion among the ministry officials.
In fact, the ministry of labour has taken an advance of Rs 206.40 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (APBOCWWB) in the last fiscal year and the ministry officials have placed their proposals in the pre-Budget discussion with finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu. However, they were told not to touch that advance aspect for this year and also the finance ministry was silent on the Budget proposals for Rs 206.40 crore to execute the Chandranna Beema in this fiscal year 2017-18. Even the Budget papers also didn’t mention about the Chandranna Beema, a labour ministry official from the Secretariat told Deccan Chronicle.
In fact, unions like Aituc and Citu have been objecting to spending building workers’ money for the purpose of Chandranna Beema and two cases have already been filed in the High Court. In fact, the proposal of revised estimates for the year 2016-17 and Budget estimates for the year 2017-18 have clearly stated that Chandranna Beema will be continued and it is required to pay a premium for the year 2017-18. An amount of Rs 199.40 crore is required towards premium for 1.70 crore unorganised workers excluding 60 lakh building workers.
