Maha govt to form advisory welfare board for newspapers

The Maharashtra government today announced setting up of an advisory welfare board for newspaper vendors by March 31.

The state government has also decided to appoint a welfare board for unorganised workers.

The newspaper vendors have already been given status of unorganised workers.

State Labour Minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar said in the Legislative Assembly that the government will take measures to protect the newspaper vendors and also instruct the same to municipal corporations and local bodies.

The issue about newspapers distributors was raised by Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu and BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar through a calling attention notice.

They said that there are over 25,000 newspaper vendors in the state who face a lot of hardships.

 

"They live without any insurance, provident fund, health facilities. They are subjected to exploitation by the newspaper owners. The government sometimes take action against their road-side stalls," Prabhu said.

In his reply, Nilangekar said "the government will form an advisory welfare board for the newspapers vendors by March 31. The local bodies would be instructed that action shouldn't be taken against the vendors."

"The distributors have been included into the welfare board of unorganised labourers. They will get all the benefits of the unorganised labourers from the state as well as the Centre," the Minister said.

BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar had asked specifically about setting up a welfare board.

"Despite promises from the government, the welfare board for the newspaper distributors has not been formed. They are not happy with the system and their issues are not addressed by the government," he alleged.