Muniappa gives away 28 VRP and 154 National Safety Awards

New Delhi, Sept 17 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways today K H Muniappa gave away the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar (VRP) and National Safety Awards (NSA) for year 2006.

Mr Muniappa presented the awards on behalf of Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment (Independent Charge) Oscar Fernandes.

VRP is awarded in recognition of outstanding suggestions given by a worker or group of workers and implemented by the management during the previous calendar year resulting in improvement in quality, productivity and working conditions such as safety, health and environmental conservation in the industrial undertakings where 'Suggestion Schemes' are in operation.

VRP is presented in the form of cash prize and a Certificate of Merit. A total of 28 Puraskars were shared by 109 workers out of 177 applications received from different industries for 2006.

The financial savings due to adoption of suggestions of the winning applications of the VRP for 2006 were Rs 91.72 crore recurring and Rs 3.04 crore non-recurring in Indian currency.

The NSA is given in recognition of outstanding safety performance of Industrial Establishments, Construction Sites and Ports to stimulate and maintain the interest of both the managements and the workers in accident prevention programmes. These awards are given under ten schemes, eight of which are meant for factories/ construction sites and two are for ports. These establishments are classified in different schemes on the basis of working of man-hours.

The criteria for presentation of NSA includes Lowest Average Frequency Rate over a period of three consecutive years ending in the performance year as compared to the National Average for that group of industries and accidently free year based on man-hours worked during the contest year.

For 2006, the total number of NA Award Winners and Runners-up in all the ten schemes added to 154 (119 winners and 35 runners-up) selected out of 244 applications received in various schemes.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment instituted the VRP, previously known as Shram Vir National Awards and National Safety Awards in 1965. These award schemes are operated by the technical wing of the Ministry, namely the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Mumbai. DGFASLI renders advice/service to workers, their representatives and managements in factories and docks to humanise industrial activities by promoting safety and health at work.

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