SHILLONG: The Labour department has said that it is trying to make use of funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the people who had returned to state subsequent to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
This was informed by Meghalaya Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment Chairperson, Ampareen Lyngdoh, following a meeting with the Labour department on Thursday.
Lyngdoh has also expressed serious concern on the livelihoods of thousands of COVID-hit returnees who were rendered unemployed after they returned to the state.
With regard to the implementation of Chief Minister’s Relief Against Wage Loss Scheme, it was informed to the Committee that an amount of Rs 26.62 crore was doled out by the department for people from different unorganised sectors where they were given a financial assistance of Rs 700 per month.
Around 1,27,000 people applied for the scheme and around 43,000 applications could not be processed due to errors, it was informed.
The Labour department also said that there are talks about implementing the Sankalp scheme and even district-level committees would be formed whilst the government is looking to cover around 70,000 individuals under the scheme.
With the Committee expressing discontentment over the number of beneficiaries registered under the Meghalaya Building and Other Construction ()Workers Welfare Board, it was informed by the department that till date, only 25,794 people have registered themselves under the scheme, out of which 25,531 people had received Rs 5,000 each during the pandemic.
