State to engage SLOs to man help desks at labour offices

: The state Labour department is engaging the SLOs (Self Employed Labour Organisers) under its aegis to man the help desks of the different labour offices at the district level so that they can facilitate the common people approaching for availing the social welfare scheme

of the department.

The SLOs across the state were involved in door-to-door collection of Rs 25 per month that the unorganised workers enrolled under Samajik Suraksha Yojana (SSY) had to pay. The Bina Mulya Samajik Suraksha Yojana (BMSSY) introduced in April 2020 for the unorganised workers by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee waived off the beneficiary contribution of Rs 25 a month towards subscription payment of provident funds with the entire contribution of Rs 55 per month being borne by the state government on behalf of the beneficiaries. Against this backdrop, the SLOs were apprehensive of losing their jobs. “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee gave clear-cut instructions about engaging the SLOs in other jobs of the department so that they are not deprived of their earnings. We acted accordingly and all 3242 SLOs across the state have been assured of their livelihood,” state Labour minister Moloy Ghatak said. The SLOs assist the unorganised workers in filling up claim forms and uploading them as well as do passbook entry for the beneficiaries.

“The workers approaching the district labour offices for availing benefits often face difficulty because of their lack of knowledge. The SLOs have chipped in to mitigate these problems,” added Ghatak.

Broadly three types of benefits are extended by the state Labour department under BMSSY — death benefits, provident fund benefits and disability benefits. The death benefit and the disability benefit vary in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh.

In 2010-11, before the Trinamool Congress government led by Banerjee assumed office for the first time, the SLOs used to get Rs 2.45 crore per year. In the financial year 2022-23, the state has coughed up Rs 41.42 crore for the SLOs which is 20 times more.

There is at least one SLO in every Gram Panchayat level and also in Kolkata.