Help must reach workers covered by ESI too

Help must reach workers covered by ESI too

Anathalavattam Anandan

The ESI Corporation must be ready to give financial help to workers covered by ESI for the period they lost work during the lockdown. In Kerala, workers who are members of various welfare fund boards are given financial help according to the boards' means. Workers covered by ESI do not get this benefit because they are not members of the state welfare funds.

In Kerala, 10,54,120 workers are registered with the ESI Corporation and pay contributions. The corporation provides only medical help at ESI hospitals and dispensaries and wages during leave. The ESI Corporation receives nearly Rs 1,000 crore a year from Kerala alone. In 2019 its investments stood at Rs 60,000 crore, and they have grown since. The corporation must give workers who are suffering after losing work and income emergency help of at least Rs 3,000 each. CITU state president Anathalavattam Anandan wrote to the Union labour minister and the ESI Corporation authorities asking the central government to issue directions for this, and also asked the state labour minister to apply the necessary pressure.