BENGALURU: With the focus now on a digital economy ever since the demonitisation of high value notes, the Labour Department has facilitated the opening of over 75,000 bank accounts for unorganised workers across the state.
Labourers employed in the garment and construction industries as well as contract labourers of Bengaluru Metro have benefited from the move, thanks to the efforts initiated by the department.
“The number of accounts opened would be anywhere between 75,000 and one lakh. As per statistics available up to December 2 from across the state, we have conducted 2,129 camps at lead banks to help workers from unorganised sectors open accounts speedily. Some camps have been conducted at the work sites of the labourers too. The Centre has directed us to push ahead with such camps,” he added.
Senior Labour Inspector in Bengaluru, N V Govindaraju said the workers felt harassed when they visited the banks to open accounts and had to make repeated visits losing daily wages too. The Labour department holds many camps at their work spot and ensures bank officials visit there and hands over application forms.
“There has been a very good response to our initiative. We have helped 410 contract employees of Bangalore Metro open their accounts. Nearly 1,500 garment employees at Rajajinagar became part of the banking sector due to our initiative,” he said. A recent camp held at Vasant Nagar ensured that 300 construction labourers got to open bank accounts.
The state is estimated to have over more than one crore labourers in the unorganised sector and these initiatives are likely to continue for some time.
A BDA contractor lauded this effort by the Labour department. “I had a very tough time paying my employees by cash in new currency. Labourers from different parts of the country struggled every time they visited banks to open accounts.”
“The session organised at one our construction sites by the Labour department saw forms being filled by all the labourers. This is a huge relief for the employees as well as contractors,” he added.