Sonia writes to PM Modi, seeks emergency welfare measures for construction workers

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll out "emergency welfare measures" for the construction sector workers.

Referring to the "extraordinary circumstance" due to COVID-19, Gandhi in a letter to Prime Minister Modi on Monday requested him "to consider advising the State Building and Other Construction Worker's Welfare Boards to roll out emergency welfare measures, particularly wage support, to the construction workers who are in distress."

"We are in the midst of the worst global pandemic. This has necessitated stringent measures for containment and management of COVID-19 transmission. These measures have led to widespread economic disruptions that had a debilitating impact on the informal sector," Gandhi has added in the letter.

The Congress president said that several countries around the world, most notably Canada, have announced wage subsidy measures as a part of their COVID-19 Economic Response Plan.

In the letter, Gandhi has mentioned that over the last week, lakhs of migrant workers in major cities across India have left for their hometowns and villages fearing a prolonged economic downturn.

"As the second-largest employer in India, over 44 million construction workers are now faced with a precarious future. Many are stranded in cities and are deprived of their livelihood due to the stringent lockdown measures," he said.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of positive coronavirus cases in the country has reached 482.