New labour policy to be formulated: Divakaran

By Our Staff Reporter

KOLLAM, MAY 20. The Labour Minister, Mr. Babu Divakaran, said here today that the UDF Government would soon come out with a new labour policy highlighting the need for a new work culture with stress on increasing production.

Addressing a `Meet-the-Press' programme organised by the Kollam Press Club he said that the practice of diverting the funds of the various welfare boards would be stopped and that effective measures would be taken to retrieve the amounts which were diverted by the LDF Government.

He said that in an era of globalisation and privatisation the working class comes face-to-face with various challenges and hence suitable changes are inevitable to arm the labour sector with the required preparedness for meeting these challenges.

Hence the importance of the labour portfolio. The stint as the Labour Minister would be fully used to sincerely work for the overall benefit of the working class, he said. New labour laws would be enacted only after proper discussions with all concerned.

The new Labour Minister said that the Labour Department of the State urgently needs a revamp since a trend has been set where the subordinate departments like welfare boards get more importance than the parent department. He said that only if the parent department gets strengthened would the subordinate departments benefit.

While the demand for more welfare boards is going up by the day, the UDF Government would examine each case individually and take the appropriate decision on merit.

The Minister underlined the need for making the technical education sector more up-to-date to remain in tune with the national and international demand for human resource. ITIs and ITCs which are facing stagnation need to be imperatively upgraded by effecting suitable changes in the syllabus.

He said that while the ESIs have enough resources, these are many a time seen to be under-utilised. ESI doctors are made to spend most of their duty time on sanctioning leave. While better treatment facilities would be added to all ESI hospitals, measures would also be taken to ensure that these institutions are properly used for the benefit of the workers.

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Section  : Southern States
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