NMDC announces Rs 1,000 assistance for employees to buy sanitisers, masks

State-owned NMDC on Saturday announced a financial assistance of Rs 1,000 each to all its employees on account of additional expenses on purchasing sanitizers and masks, which are high in demand and have become costly in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

NMDC Chairman N Baijendra Kumar took to twitter to inform about the decision of the PSU.

"NMDC to give assistance of Rs 1000 to all employees including contract employees, labourers, trainees, apprentices etc for additional expenses to prevent coronavirus. This is in additions to other precautions in all its projects and offices. @PMOIndia @SteelMinIndia," he said in a tweet attaching a copy of the NMDC notification.

The amount would be in addition to current month's salary, the notification said.

A company official said that there are about 5,500 employees on the roll of NMDC and another 2,500 are contractual workers.

The amount is being provided so that workers can buy masks, sanitisers etc which have become costlier, the official.

He further informed that as part of precautionary measures, staff has also been asked to work from home and company's offices and buildings across the country are being sanitised. Besides special arrangements are also being made at its healthcare centres to deal with the virus.

Large gatherings have been prohibited, entry of non company staff is being scanned using thermal scanners.

Employees have also been asked to inform the company if they or any member of their family members have a travel history to coronavirus-impacted country.

Awareness is also being created among employees through emails, sms alert etc.

NMDC, under Ministry of Steel, is country's largest iron ore miner that produces about 35 million tonnes of iron ore from three fully-mechanised mines.