Govt makes insurance for staff a must, then backtracks

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after issuing an order making health insurance scheme covering Covid-19 infection mandatory for workers in industrial units which want to resume operations from Monday, the state industries department has made a volte-face by stating that it was just a suggestion inspired by a central government guideline issued earlier.

The state government order dated April 18 — relaxing lockdown restrictions — issued by the industries department clearly stated in the 18-point ‘standard operating procedures/conditions to be followed by the industrial units/houses in the state while resuming their operations’ that it was mandatory for the employers to provide ‘medical insurance including for infection of coronavirus’ for the workers while operating under the lockdown period.

“It’s just a suggestion and not a rule for resuming operations. We were actually re-conveying the guidelines issued by the Union ministry of home affairs issued on April 15. The state government has not taken any decision to make such an insurance coverage mandatory,” principal secretary K Ellangovan, in whose name the order was issued, told TOI when sought a clarification.

Currently, insurance cover for Covid-19 is in place only for frontline health workers involved in managing the outbreak (including sanitation staff, doctors, Asha workers, paramedics and nurses), which was first announced by the state government and later by the Centre. The industrial units can resume work on Monday even without providing insurance coverage for Covid-19 infection, for which a clarification will be issued later, Ellangovan said.

However, the industries department secretary’s clarification is likely to dilute all other conditions — to be followed by the industrial units which might resume operations during lockdown period — as well. They include ‘mandatory thermal scanning of everyone entering and exiting the workplace’, ‘strict ban on use of gutka, tobacco, etc and spitting’ on the premises and a total ban on non-essential visitors at sites.

Among other conditions are a ‘single point of entry’ for the workers for proper accounting of number of people inside the plant, use of appropriate face mask and hand gloves (if required), frequent washing of hands with soap, a gap of one hour between shifts, staggering of lunch breaks to ensure social distancing and avoidance of large gatherings or meetings of 10 or more people.

The conditions, the order says, are to be enforced by the district collectors, and warns that any violation of these conditions would lead to cancellation of the exemptions granted.

Source: The Times of India