12 months' pension to coir workers to be released

Thiruvananthapuram, June 15 (UNI) Kerala Cooperation Minister G Sudhakaran today said the government would distribute 12 months' pension to coir workers registered with the Coir Welfare Board.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said the pension would be distributed from June 22 and 38,179 workers aged over 60 years would get the benefit. A sum of Rs 4.86 crore had been released for the purpose. Besides this, 17,060 workers would also get Member Pension, he added.

Mr Sudhakaran said nearly 3.75 lakh workers, 80 per cent of them women, were engaged in the coir industry and majority of them lost jobs because of the crisis in the industry.

As promised in the LDF manifesto, the government would take all possible steps to provide them jobs at the earliest and it would start ''distress purchase'' of coir from the coir societies and private coir companies from next month, he said.

However, the Coir Board would not purchase coir from the depots and those private coir companies, which did not give minimum wages to workers, he added.

The Minister said to revive the sick coir societies, the government would convert their loans, which crossed over Rs 50.78 crore, including Rs 27.40 crore as interest, into shares. By doing so such societies could take fresh loans from financial institutions like NABARD for its effective functioning.

Besides this, the government would release the first instalment Rs 1.51 crore from the Rs 3.79 crore with the Coir Board as Market Development Assistance to the societies. The remaining insalments would be distributed by December, he added.

Mr Sudhakaran also said the government would inquire into the misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 300 crore in the State Cooperative Bank during the previous UDF government period and the irregularities in the functioning of the Pariyaram Medical College.

However, the Minister clarified that the government had no plan to take over the medical college.

UNI CGV2037