Naveen doles out sops to construction workers

Bhubaneswar: In an attempt to woo the construction workers, the State government has declared incentives for them and made a few changes in the existing ‘Construction workers package’.

Addressing the district collectors on the concluding day of their two-day conference at the secretariat here yesterday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced increase in the marriage assistance amount for the construction workers’ children to Rs 25, 000 from Rs 20,000. Similarly, the maternity benefit has been also increased to Rs 8,000 from Rs 4,000 under the new package.

Besides, the State government will provide an educational assistance of Rs 5,000 to children of construction workers studying in Classes XI and XII. Moreover, an aid of Rs 7,000 per annum will be offered to students enrolled in post-graduation courses and taken admission in ITIs, Patnaik declared.

Similarly, the children of construction workers pursuing diploma and polytechnic courses will be offered an assistance of Rs 10,000 while MBA and BTech students will get Rs 40,000 per annum, he announced.

Meanwhile, the minimum waiting period to avail an assistance to buy a bicycle for a construction worker has been reduced to one year which was three years earlier. Similarly, the minimum period to get assistance to buy tools, safety equipment has been made one year.