Asking the officials of Labour Department to work single-mindedly for restoration of dignity of the labour class, Minister for Finance, Labour & Employment Dr Haseeb Drabu Thursday said that J&K shall be made a welfare state through various initiatives centred around labour welfare.Announcing a slew of initiatives at a review meeting of the Labour Department, Dr Drabu instructed the officials to initiate a process of revision of all labour laws in the state to make them contemporary and relevant to changing times. “Laws must undergo change. Labour now needs different support and regulations,” he said. He also called for organizational restructuring of the Labour Department to make it efficient and people-friendly.He urged the officers to create a proper system Social Safety Net for the labourers by dovetailing all welfare schemes meant for the workers.
In order to ensure that all the workers have equitable access to the social safety net, he instructed that registration of workers should be linked to biometrics and Aadhar number. This, he added, would also flush the system of bogus registrations and duplications. On being informed that around 3 lakh workers are registered with the department, he directed complete mapping of unorganized workers in all the districts of the state within one month.While commenting upon malpractices that have crept into the system, he asked officers to provide him a list of top 3 construction sites in each district and also conduct snap inspection to ascertain the veracity of claims lodged with the department. “Send me monthly inspection reports”, he added.He also asked the concerned departments to submit proposals regarding investment options for their respective corpuses so that the money lying with the departments is leveraged properly.He was informed that Rs 150 crore were disbursed to the beneficiaries in 2015-16.