Medical college hospital to come up in Sivakasi

VIRUDHUNAGAR:  An ESIC Medical College Hospital with advanced facilities will be set up in Sivakasi at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore, said Minister for Labour Welfare and Skill Development C V Ganesan, at a seminar on Firecracker Unit's Safety and Labour Welfare, held on Monday.

The seminar, which was held at a private college in Amathur, was inaugurated by Ministers KKSSR Ramachandran, Thangam Thennarsu, and C V Ganesan. CV Ganesan said that a proposal has been sent to the Centre regarding the setting up of the college hospital in Sivakasi.

"With the highest number of firecracker units in the country, the district has a total of 1066 units which employ around 56,000. Every year, during Deepavali, 1129 inspections are carried out at the firework units, and 585 inspections work to prevent accidents that occur around the festival season.

At present, around 1241 cases of fire-related accidents are pending in the court and none of the accidents that took place was traced to the 800 firecracker units in the district. A fund worth Rs 1, 45, 000 was handed over to six children, who were rescued from child labour through National Child Labour Project Scheme.