The Minister of State for Labour & Employment (Independent charge), Santosh Kumar Gangwar presented the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar and National Safety Awards (performance year 2015) to awardees at a function held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi today.On the 50th Golden Jubilee Award presentation Ceremony, Shri Gangwar has given away the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar to 111 individuals in recognition of outstanding suggestions given by worker or group of workers and implemented by the management resulting in improvement in quality, productivity and working conditions such as safety, health and environmental conservation. The National Safety Award to 126 (73 winners & 53 runners-up) in recognition of outstanding safety performance of industrial establishments, construction sites, ports and installations under AERB to stimulate and maintain the interests of both the management and the workers in accident prevention programmes.Speaking on the occasion, the Labour & Employment Minister said that Hon’ble PM, Shri Narendra Modi is the “Shilpkaar of New India”. Today on the birthday of the Hon’ble Prime Minister, and under his strong able dynamic leadership India is poised to become a developed country and in the last three years rapid industrialisation, make in India, skill India, employment generation and sustainable development has been the top priority and agenda of this government.Gangwar said that to protect the rights of workers, provide them safety, and to take care of their health is our priority. Health and safety of our workers is a very important part of a successful industrial establishment. Shri Gangwar further stated that I remember today the father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay. They have advised us to take decisions after considering the last man on the street, the neediest ones.
The Secretary Labour & Employment, Smt M. Sathiyavathy while complementing the awardees for their innovative ideas and developing the indigenous solutions after successful implementation by the workers have benefited not only the industrial organisations but at saved foreign exchange. In her key note address she has provided an estimate for recurring & non-recurring savings for VRP to the tune of Rs. 732.298 Crores and Rs.819.273 Crores respectively in Indian currency and Rs. 303.903 Crores in terms of foreign currency for recurring and Rs.29.413 crores on non-recurring head for performance year 2015 as reflected in the award applications. She further highlighted that the government has been consistently working for providing better working conditions & promoting safety and health for the welfare of the workforce. The Ministry is working to develop a National OSH profile in line with ILO Convention No 155 & 187 in collaboration with ILO, this will help to understand the OSH profile of the country and will lead to plugs in the gaps for implementation of our policies and programmes.Today, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour & Employment has also inaugurated the ‘Audhyogik Suraksha Rath’ which is a self-contained fully equipped, mobile training truck to showcase the advantages of safe work practices whichwill contribute to the education and awareness of the end users on the various hazards present at the workplace and the ways of working safely at such workplaces. The ‘Audhyogik Suraksha Rath’ will move across India going to numerous locations over the next 3 years to provide in-person safety training, education and demonstrations.