'Benefits for construction workers pending for last 6 months'

: Construction workers have not got eligible benefits, including marriage assistance,as in the Construction Workers welfare board, for the last six months, a meeting of different trade unions claimed today.
Leaders of various trade unions, including INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU and ATP, participated in an interactive meeting and discussed the issues confronting the workers, N Selvaraj, General Secretary of AITUC Construction workers union said.
The government has not released the marriage assistance, pension, accident assistance and death claims for the last six months, putting the workers into lot of hardships, he said.
The meeting charged board officials with unilaterally taking the decision without consulting the trade unions.

Moreover, hundreds of applications for pension were rejected without giving any valid reasons and also without considering the Government Order that those who had registered their name before February 28, 2011 and completed 60 years were eligible for the pension, Selvaraj said.
The meeting also demanded Tamil Nadu government give Rs 10,000 a month to construction workers in flood hit districts of the state on the lines of Puducherry Government, which was giving Rs 4,000 to the workers, Selvaraj added.