Nanjangud: Labour Minister Venkataramanappa called upon workers of Nanjangud and Chamarajanagar industries to make use of medical care facilities available at the new ESI Hospital built at a cost of Rs.9.5 crore in the town.

Speaking after inaugurating the new ESI Dispensary and Diagnostic Centre at Nanjangud on Tuesday, he said that ESI (Employees State Insurance Corporation Hospital) and Diagnostic Centre was constructed with the efforts of Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan and other elected members of the region.

All lab equipment and other machines to the ESI Hospital, recruitment of medical, nursing and paramedical staff will be taken up with the assistance of Central Government, he added.

He said that he had inaugurated the renovated 100-bed ESI Hospital on KRS Road in Mysuru which was constructed at a cost of Rs.25 crore recently for the benefit of labourers and added that another ESI Hospital at a cost of Rs.1,241 crore was also opened at Kalaburagi.

Listing out the achievements of the Department for Welfare of Labourers, he said that he had brought the carpenters, potters, washermen and other backward class communities engaged in various skilled professions to avail ESI and other benefits provided by his Department. Grants provided by the Government for promotion of education and social activities of labourers were also doubled after he took up the mantle of the Department, he added.

He said that the Labour Department has been providing up to Rs.5 lakh grant for construction of houses for registered labourers. Government has also been organising skill development camps in all the districts for enhancement of skills of unemployed as well as providing daily honorarium of Rs.249 per head for persons undergoing skill development training. Free skill development training kit will be provided to them, he added.

In his address, MP R. Dhruvanarayan appreciated the then Union Minister of Labour Mallikarjuna Kharge for sanctioning Rs.9.5 crore grants for the construction of the new ESI Hospital and said that a fresh proposal has been submitted to the Centre for recruitment of medical staff and installation of machines.

Stating that Karnataka has the largest number of Medical Colleges and Research Hospitals in the country, he regretted that  expert doctors were not willing to work in rural areas.

Labour Union leaders’ woes

Earlier, a war of words ensued between Labour Minister Venkataramanappa and Labour Union leaders over the delay in appointment of medical, para-medical staff, installation of machines at ESI Hospitals across the State including the one in Mysuru. The Labour Union leaders condemned the Minister for inaugurating the hospital buildings without providing the required medical and nursing staff and other infrastructure in the hospitals.

Supporters of MLA B. Harshavardhan also boycotted the inaugural function over the issue of not inviting former Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad to the function and not mentioning his name in the stone plaque of the building. They said that the former Minister had played a  crucial role for the construction of this hospital during his tenure.