Odisha to provide Rs 500 per Month to Workers above 60 Years

Bhubaneswar, Oct 14: In an endeavour to provide social security and housing to the registered construction workers in Odisha, the state government has decided to launch monthly pension scheme and housing scheme for the workers.

According to reports, Odisha government has decided to provide monthly a monthly pension of Rs 500 to all registered construction workers above 60 years. The government has decided to implement housing scheme for all the registered construction workers in rural and urban areas.

A high-level meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday at State Secretariat here. In the meeting the state government has decided to launch welfare schemes for registered construction workers. The monthly pension scheme for construction workers above 60 years would be implemented by November last. And, the housing scheme to be implemented by December this year.

Odisha government has provided Rs.80 crore for the construction workers during 2015-16. There are around 11 lakh registered construction workers in the state and the government has set target to increase the number of construction workers to 25 lakh in next three years.

It is noteworthy that, Chief Minister  Naveen Patnaik had announced various packages including housing and pension for the construction workers while unveiling ‘Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana’ on 21 February 2015. Speaking at the function Chief Minister had said “Construction workers having registration for a minimum period of 5 years will be eligible to get one lakh rupees as housing grant under the scheme. Besides, the workers will be eligible to get a monthly pension of Rs.500 on attaining the age of 60 years.”