Virudhunagar
Amidst demand for assistance for fireworks employees, Virudhunagar district administration has been collating the details of the fireworks employees from all the fireworks and safety matches units in the district.
The Special Tahsildar for Fireworks and Matches has asked the units to send through mail the details of the employees and their bank account details.
An official said that the Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced that the workers of fireworks and match industry would be provided with an assistance of ₹ 1,000 for them to overcome the joblessness during the lockdown period.
Meanwhile, Virudhunagar MP B. Manickam Tagore has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide interim relief/salary from the PF and ESI fund to the labourers of both matches and fireworks and allied industries.
The Congress MP said that the cumulative turnover of both the industries was around ₹ 7,500 crore with direct and indirect employment to over 10 lakh employees, with a majority of them being underprivileged women workers
He said that ₹ 7,500 relief should be provided to all the employees.
In the meantime, the Centre of Trade Unions said that the relief should be given to all the employees involved in fireworks and matches industry.
Stating that it appeared that only those employees who had PF and ESI accounts with the fireworks units were being selected for the relief, its Virudhunagar district secretary P.N. Deva appealed to the Chief Minister that all the employees should be given ₹ 10,000 relief.
The Communist Party of India has demanded a relief of ₹ 10,000 to all family cardholders. Its district secretary P. Lingam also demanded that free test for COVID-19 infection should be done free of cost to all the citizens.
Exemption should be given for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee scheme so that the rural masses get their livelihood.
