Shillong, June 13: The Seng Nongbylla Sngi Umpling (SNSU) recently made an appeal to Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma for disbursement of financial aid under Meghalaya Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board for those registered in 2020.
In a petition submitted to chief minister, the association also urged upon Sangma to expedite and simplify the process of new registration under PDS for availing benefits of free ration under the NFSA.
Stating that they are under extreme financial stress, the association said daily wage labourers have been hit the most as lockdown has been imposed for more than a month to combat the second wave of the pandemic.
“We have not been able to move from one locality to another for work. We are not getting materials for construction in those localities where movements of labourers have been allowed,” the SNSU stated.
According to the organisation, many of the families are also on the verge of hunger. “We are daily labourers who get their wages during weekdays and on weekends to meet the basic necessities of their families. However, due to the lockdown we have not been able to go to work,” they stated, adding that they would not like to face a situation where people lose their life due to hunger.
According to the organisation, thousands of the daily wage labourers have taken new registration with the Labour Department last year under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (BOCWWB) and receipts for the same have been provided to them.
“In Umpling alone, there are more than 300 labourers who have done so. So, we appeal to you to kindly instruct the concerned department to immediately disburse the amount of Rs 5000 each to all the newly registered daily wage construction labourers,” they stated.
Informing that there are many who have registered under this board much earlier and are yet to receive financial aid, the SNSU has urged the chief minister to allow unregistered labourers to enroll themselves.
While appreciating the steps taken by the government for free ration, they however pointed out that a large number of families do not possess ration cards to avail food grains under the various PDS schemes as many labourers move out of their villages to work in the city. In the absence of EPIC and other documents, we are denied PDS ration cards, they added.
