Goa modifies schemes for benefit of mining closure-hit people

Goa Cabinet today widened the scope of a scheme providing financial benefit to the people affected by the closure of mining industry in the state.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, emerging from the Cabinet meeting, announced the modification of two flagship schemes, which were launched to ease recession being faced in the mining belt following closure of the industry a year back.
Parrikar said the modifications have been made to resolve the difficulties faced by the applicants, who include truck owners left without work and people who are jobless due to the impending crisis.
The Cabinet included the truck owners outside the mining belt in the ambit of this scheme, he told reporters.

The government initially had provided the benefit only to those truck owners living in the mining belt.
The government is providing Rs 8,000 per month to the owner of single truck and Rs 12,000 to the two trucks.

In another significant modification, the Cabinet today simplified the procedure to avail benefit under the scheme drafted to provide financial help to the people left jobless due to mining closure.
The state government initially had insisted on the receipt of Employees State Insurance (ESI) or Provident Fund (PF) as the proof to avail the benefit.
Parrikar said that those applying for the monthly financial help under this scheme can now provide any document, including ESI and PF certificate, to prove that they were working in the mining sector.

The government figures had revealed that 3,416 truck owners applied for the benefit, while only 168 people claimed the benefit after losing jobs.
Parrikar said number of people who lost job is much more, but many of them could not produce the required PF and ESI documents, prompting the government to modify the scheme.
"This only proves that the people were recruited in the mining sector (by private players) without following proper procedures," he said.