16 months on, welfare board for Tamil Nadu's salt pan workers remains on paper

CHENNAI: More than 16 months after the State government issued an order to constitute a welfare board exclusively for the salt pan workers, the initiative is hanging in the balance.

The move remains on paper to date, leaving several hundreds of workers living and dying in salt fields high and dry.

Sources in the Labour Department said that the welfare board came into existence following an order, dated on April 12, 2023, under the provision of the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Work) Act 1982. A total of 9,809 salt pan workers, who already registered with the Tamil Nadu Manual Workers Social Security and Welfare Board, enrolled in the newly created board.

The authorities charted out plans to carry out enrollment drives to include the left-out workers in coastal districts and form a committee. "No concrete measure has been taken to bring this welfare board into action to serve its purpose," M Krishnamoorthy of the Unorganised Workers Federation said.

Without a corpus fund, the welfare board has nothing to offer to the workers. "The Goods and Service Taxes, which came into existence in 2017, nullified the 1953 Act (Salt Cess Act). It undid the generation of funds for the social security of the workers," said a source in the government.

Meanwhile, the workers have been requesting the state government to fund the welfare board. "There is no clarity of what officials think about creating a corpus fund for the welfare board. Though we have appealed to the authorities to fix levy on the export of salt and its byproducts to create a perennial funding source for the welfare board, no initiative has been taken to date," said Krishnamoorthy

The workers, particularly women, have several health issues due to long working hours under distressed conditions and constant exposure to blistering sun and its reflecting on the salt. But there is no intervention programme from the government to date. "Initially we were happy when the government announced a welfare board. We thought it would help to address our issues and attend to our long pending demands such as creating basic amenities-drinking water at work sites, and periodical medical camps for the workers. But the situation has remained the same ever since," said a dejected woman worker, preferring anonymity.