Date:10/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/10/stories/2006121010700300.htm

Karnataka - Belgaum

ESI workers promised sixth pay panel benefits

Staff Correspondent

Ansari promises to take up the matter with the Chief Minister

`85 lakh employees getting benefits of ESI'

Steps taken to appoint 82 doctors to ESI hospitals

HEALTH FOR ALL: Minister for Labour and Minority Welfare Iqbal Ansari lighting the lamp to inaugurate the ESI Medical Conference in Belgaum on Saturday.

BELGAUM: Minister for Labour and Minority Welfare Iqbal Ansari has assured employees under the Employees Insurance Scheme (ESI), including doctors, that he will try to ensure that the benefits promised by the Sixth Pay Commission reach them at the earliest.

Inaugurating the Second Karnataka State ESI Medical Conference here on Saturday, Mr. Ansari said he was aware that ESI employees were still getting their salaries only according to the recommendations of the Fourth Pay Commission and were yet to get the benefits promised by the Sixth Pay Commission. He said he would take up the matter with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and other authorities soon.

The conference was organised jointly by the Belgaum and Bangalore chapters of the Karnataka Government ESI Medical Officers' Association (KGESIMOA).

The Minister said the Government would soon open an eye care centre at the ESI hospital in Bangalore.