THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Covid mitigation aid offered by the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Workers Welfare Fund Board has found many takers among IT employees. In the last couple of days, as many as 66 employees have applied for the aid.
The welfare board is offering `1,000 to all registered members, Rs 10,000 for Covid-19 positive members and Rs 5,000 for members undergoing quarantine. Among the applicants from the IT sector, 46 employees were Covid-19 patients and 20 had undergone quarantine.
Though the aid distribution was started long back, many IT employees came to know about it only recently, said Rajeev Krishnan of Prathidhwani, a socio-cultural organisation of IT employees in Technopark.
According to him, more people will apply for the aid in the coming days. Prathidhwani has been trying to create more awareness among IT employees to avail the benefit. The welfare board had closed the application for availing aid by October, but extended it till November 17 as more requests started coming in.
“The employees, especially those in the IT field, are not aware of the benefits of the welfare board. The managements usually do not tell the employees about it and some do not even bother to make the contribution,” said Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Workers Welfare Fund Board chairman K Ananthagopan.
According to him, the crisis due to Covid-19 made the employees pay attention to such benefits. Several employees working in small IT companies have either lost their jobs or took a pay cut in the initial phase of the pandemic in the state. The financial aid offered by Prathidhwani to IT employees who lost their jobs during the pandemic had 35 takers. “Though we offered as little as Rs 5,000, people who did not have liquid money availed it,” said Rajeev.
The board has distributed Covid aid to over 1.7 lakh employees and most of the beneficiaries are employees of shops. All employees who contribute `20 every month through their respective employers to the welfare board are eligible for the Covid aid.
At present, the board has around 7.5 lakh active members. Employees in the age group of 18 to 55, who are self-employed or employees working in shops that come under the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishment Act of 1960 can become members of the welfare fund board.