CM eyes labour fund, angers workers
BENGALURU: The Siddaramaiah government’s financial juggling to mobilise resources to implement the farm loan waiver has invited the wrath of the working class in unorganised sector.
Faced with the daunting task of fulfilling the promise that would cost Rs 8,165 crore and benefit 22.27 lakh farmers, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who holds the Finance portfolio, is forced to lay his hands on allocations of various departments.
The CM’s alleged move to tap into the Labour Welfare Fund to partly raise the resources needed for the loan waiver has angered the working class in the unorganised sector, especially construction workers.
Speaking to Express, N Swamy, president of Karnataka State Building and Other Construction Workers’ Association, conveyed his angst against the state government’s proposal to transfer Rs 5,770 crore of the Labour Welfare Fund presently deposited in a nationalised bank to Karnataka State Co-Operative Apex Bank.
The fund, created from the membership fee of the workers and the cess being collected from contractors and developers on projects worth over Rs 20 lakh, is meant for providing social security for the workers.
“The fund is meant for implementing welfare programmes for the education of children of workers, health services for their families. We will protest this move to shift the fund to Apex Bank that will enable the government to draw the fund for farm loan waiver,” Swamy said.
Swamy argued that The Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act has mandated the government to maintain the fund in a nationalised bank. He added that the Supreme Court, in an order on February 7, 2012, also stated that the fund could not be used for any other purpose.
The farm loan waiver is restricted for loans up to Rs 50,000 availed from co-operative institutions which function in association with the Apex Bank.
Minister tries to allay workers’ fears
Labour minister Santosh Lad sees no difference whether the fund is deposited in a nationalised bank or with Apex Bank as long as it delivers on its responsibility of implementing the welfare programmes for the working class. “I want to assure the workers that there would be no misuse of the fund or dilution in the programmes for their welfare. The fund will earn the same interest in Apex Bank. If the fund can also help the government provide succour for farmers without harming the interests of the working class, then why not?” Lad questioned.