The Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday more than doubled the monthly pension of workers aged 60 years or above registered with the Construction Workers Welfare Board, from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,500.

He also announced setting up of Haryana Unorganized Workers Social Security Board which will work for the welfare of workers employed in the unorganized sector. The CM made these announcements while speaking at the state-level Rajkiya Sharamik Divas Samaroh organized by the Labour Department, on the occasion of Vishvakarma Jayanti, in Karnal on Monday.

He also accepted on-the-spot 33 demands put forth by the minister of state for Labour and Employment, Nayab Singh Saini. Organised and unorganised are two sectors engaging workers. In Haryana, about 25 per cent workers are working in the organised sectors, while 75 per cent are in the unorganised sector.

Our focus is not only on the organised sector but also on the unorganised sector. Which is explained by the fact that Haryana Unorganized Workers Social Security Board has been constituted, the CM said.

At present, over 7.76 lakh workers are registered with the Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board out of which over 5.08 lakh members are active. The state government is running several schemes for their welfare and for the welfare of their families.

“We have decided to increase the monthly pension of registered workers of this Board, who are 60 years or over, to Rs 2,500 from Rs 1,000,” Khattar added.

Giving a broad view of the new health scheme launched by the state government, the CM said from September 23, the Central government would give Rs Five lakh annually to poor families, on the basis of the data of Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC)–2014, for healthcare facilities.

According to the SECC data, there are 14 lakh poor families in Haryana, out of which 8.5 lakh families would benefit from this scheme. But those families which could not be recorded in SECC data, for any reason, would be given Rs Five lakh for healthcare services from the Construction Workers Welfare Board, he said.

The CM said the state government had taken steps to remove the anomalies that sprung up during re-fixation of minimum wages. Today, Haryana ranks among the states which are giving highest minimum wages.

In Haryana, the salary of unskilled worker is Rs 8,542 per month, which means, he gets daily wage of Rs 329. “We have fulfilled the promises made during the elections by giving daily wage of Rs 300”, he added.