In line with its commitment to the welfare of unorganized sector workers, the central government on Tuesday announced doubling of subsidy for construction of low-cost houses for beedi workers across the country to Rs 40,000 per unit.
The announcement was made by Union Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola during his visit to the construction site of 10,000 houses on the outskirts of the city, famous for its several beedi production mills.
Ola, who interacted with beedi workers, was given the first hand account of the progress of the sprawling project at Kumbhari, perhaps the first scheme of its kind in Asia.
He also announced that the eligibility condition of monthly income of a beedi worker of Rs 3,500 has been raised to Rs.6,500 now to ensure that more and more beneficiaries were brought under the ambit of the scheme.
There are about 40 lakh beedi workers in the country.
The Labour Minister said that under the new scheme, beedi workers in Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore and Pune would also be able to purchase flats in Group Housing Societies.
