To highlight their demands, construction workers affiliated to the CITU staged a demonstration in front of Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Labour at Palayamkottai on Tuesday.
They said the mandatory personal appearance before the Village Administrative Officer for registering the construction labourers with the welfare board should be withdrawn.
Instead, the recognised associations’ recommendation for registering new labourers should be accepted so that it would not result in the loss of wages to labourers.
The opening of savings bank account and submission of the SB account number while applying for registration of new construction labourers with the welfare board should not be made mandatory.
The compensation being given to the construction labourers’ families in case of accidental death at workplace should be increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh, as being given in the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and the monthly pension should be increased to Rs. 2,000.
Meeting of the Construction Labourers’ Welfare Board should be convened once in two months, they demanded.
CITU office-bearer P. Muthukrishnan led the agitation.
Tuticorin
Construction Workers Federation of India, affiliated to the CITU, organised a demonstration pressing for a host of demands to be fulfilled by the government.
The protest was led by M. Perumal, Joint Secretary of the District, CWFI, opposite the District Labour Office here on Tuesday.
They demanded that the central regulation be implemented for the construction workers through the Building and other Construction Workers Act, 1996 to enable them enjoy more benefits.
Since the construction workers could not avail all financial benefits at times of necessity, efforts should be made to take the benefits to them, R. Russell, state secretary of CITU, who joined the agitation, said.
Moreover, the workers were facing hardship while enrolling in the welfare board and hence the formalities should be simplified. With lack of offices for executing social security schemes in 26 districts in Tamil Nadu, the purpose of the scheme could not be served properly, he saidInfrastructural facilities in the construction workers welfare board should also be strengthened, he added.
The agitations were organised at 13 locations across the district.
