Balakrishna Shetty, vice-president of the State unit of Building Workers’ Association, said on Monday that the State government was not fully utilising the money available in the Welfare Fund of the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Shetty said that though there was an amount of ₹6,150 crore available in the Welfare Fund of the Board, only ₹250 crore had been utilised in the last 10 years. Instead, the government wanted to take ₹600 crore from this fund to provide smartphones for the workers, but the construction workers’ associations did not allow it.
Then, the government wanted to use a portion of this fund for its Indira Canteen scheme. This too could not materialise because of opposition from the associations. Owing to this opposition, the government was now planning to provide smart cards to workers so that they could have food at Indira Canteens for free while the subsidised cost would be borne from the fund.
The association wanted the government to use the money in the fund only for the welfare of the workers. The government should increase the accident compensation from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh.
Shortage of sand
Though the problem of shortage of sand in Udupi district had been resolved to a large extent, it was still not possible to remove sand from all the rivers. The government ought to resolve this problem, he said.
While most of the building workers in Udupi district had sites, they did not have title deeds. This should be provided by the government. Similarly, the government should provide housing for workers not having houses under the Basava Vasati Yojana or the Indira Awaas Yojana, Mr. Shetty said.
Shekhar Bangera, president, district unit of the association; and office bearers Ramesh Acharya and Sundar Kotian were present.
