Unorganised workers' plea for insurance cover

Unorganised workers in the State are yet to get the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna health insurance cover despite several protests and appeals to the government to bring them under its ambit.

While sources said the government was yet to depute officials to begin the enrolment process, officials in the Labour department, however, claimed that the scheme was being implemented as per instructions.

“Right now, we cannot comment on the status as the elections are round the corner,” an official said.

According to Prasanna Kumar, national secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Union, though the post of the Labour commissioner, which was vacant for over six months, has been filled, he has, however, been deputed for election duty, leaving the unorganised workers in the lurch.

Meet minister

Incidentally, representatives of domestic workers, who have been fighting for the implementation of the scheme for over two years, met Labour Minister B N Bachegowda, who assured them that the scheme would be implemented soon.

While unorganised workers like 50,000-odd security guards and six lakh garment workers in the City have managed to come under the ambit of the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) scheme, a majority of the workers in the State and Bangalore are not covered under any scheme.

Not covered

In the garments sector, another one lakh workers, engaged in piecework and other small jobs, are not covered under the ESI scheme.

Health insurance scheme includes...

The scheme provides beneficiaries with smart card, through which they can avail cashless health insurance of up to Rs 30,000 for a family, per year.

The Centre will fund

Rs 23,000, while the State is expected to fund the remaining Rs 7,000.

The Centre extended its benefits to building and other construction workers, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries, street vendors, beedi workers and domestic workers.