Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the Centre to implement certain measures under the Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) to provide some financial relief to nearly 9 million workers who had lost their jobs because of the lockdown.
In the letter, Mr. Vaiko said many industrialists were unable to pay salaries as their revenues had been hit. He suggested that under the ABYKY, employees registered with the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) should be given 50% of their last drawn salary for three months, increasing it from the present 25%. He said the Centre should relax the requirement that an employee should be a member of the ESIC for two years to two months, to avail the benefits. Mr. Vaiko suggested doing away with the requirement that employees could use the benefits only once during their lifetime.
The MDMK leader said if the government was unable to implement the ABYKY scheme of the ESIC during the lockdown, it should implement a special scheme and provide financial assistance to those who had lost their jobs.
