HP CM requests Centre to relax PM's Garib Kalyan Yojna norms

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has urged the Centre to relax some of the norms of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna for Himachal Pradesh to provide its benefit to maximum number of people, an official spokesperson said on Thursday.

In a letter to the Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Chief Minister Thakur urged him to waive the PMGKY's condition of covering only those enterprises whose 90 percent or more employees were drawing monthly wages less than Rs 15,000 under the Yojna.

This Yojna was launched by the Union Government in March 2020 to benefit the most vulnerable section of the society.

Thakur said the scheme envisages helping the low wage earners in the organized sector, with the provision of the Centre depositing both the employer and employees' shares of the Employees Provided Fund for three months.

The CM said that the wage earners eligible to avail benefit under this scheme are the employees drawing wages less than Rs 15,000 a month for enterprises having up to 100 employees, provided 90 percent or more of such employees are drawing monthly wages less than Rs 15,000.

Thakur said various industrial chambers and associations of the state had represented to him that many of the industrial units in the state do not have 90 percent of their employees drawing wages less than Rs 15,000 a month.

Hence, the other low wage earners in these units are likely to be ineligible to avail the benefits under this scheme, he added.

The CM said in such situation, it is likely to create confusion and mistrust between the employees and employers, as the general impression is that the government is paying the EPF contribution of all employees drawing a salary of less than Rs 15,000 per month.