The state labour commission extended monetary benefits to the tune of around Rs.41 crore to more than 66,000 construction site labourers and another Rs13 lakh to around 1,118 domestic helps to tide over the pandemic blues, especially stoppage of work leading to discontinuation of income.
Sources from state labour commission’s office stated that about Rs.6,000 each were paid to 66,000-odd construction site labourers in three instalments during the pandemic, after receiving their applications online. Many other allowances, too, were disbursed in the same period to the labourers who were registered with their board.
Apart from the construction site labourers, the state labour commission also gave Rs1,150 as special Covid allowance to around 1,118 domestic helps who were registered with their board.
Assistant labour commissioner Rajdeep Dhurve said the monetary benefits were disbursed directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries after their applications were accepted. “The government decided to dole out benefits to the construction site labourers and the domestic help as these two sectors were heavily affected during the pandemic-induced lockdown, jeopardizing their livelihood,” he said.
Dhurve appealed to domestic helps and labourers to register themselves with their respective boards through the labour commissioner’s office. He added that several other benefits are disbursed through the state governments, saying that there was monetary assistance for marriage, maternity help, construction of houses and so on for registered labourers.