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Bengal

Samajik Surakha Yojana: State clears dues of over 26K labourers

KOLKATA: Much to the relief of the labourers ahead of the festive season, the state Labour department's special drive has resulted in clearing of dues of 26775 workers across the state, amounting to Rs 154 crore in September. The dues of several labourers in the form of pension, provident fund, accidental death or damage related benefits etc had been lying pending due to technical problem in the portal related to unorganised labourers. The dues of the labourers were in connection with Samajik Surakha Yojana scheme initiated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2017.

State Labour minister Becharam Manna had directed his officials to take suitable measures for quick disbursal of the pending dues in both offline and online mode with problems crippling the online portal for quite some time.

According to sources in the department, through the recently organised Duare Sarkar camps the state government has disbursed Rs 186.08 crore at the rate of Rs 55 per month as provident fund to the bank accounts of 22.56 lakh unorganised labourers from the period of April 1 till June 30.

"The Covid pandemic has affected the livelihood of the labourers not only in the state but in the entire country. So, reaching out their due benefits on a priority basis will be of great help to them,"a senior official of the department said.

The technical problem with the portal has been sorted to an extent and the department is hopeful that it will start functioning normally by November. The department has also addressed the issue of electricity of Howrah Jute Mill, which has resumed its production in full swing.

The mill that has around 3,500 workers was shut from May 11 and opened up from August 7. However, some issues related to electricity posed hindrance in starting production.

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