Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The State government’s ambitious scheme to provide financial assistance to labourers for purchasing of electric scooty has failed to take off following low response from the targeted lot. Since the launch of the scheme in June, only 21 labourers have so far registered for the scheme, which is touted as the first of its kind in the country.
The scheme aims at helping labourers in commuting to their workplaces. The scheme provides for Rs 40,000 in financial assistance to laborers for buying electric scooters. As per one of the eligibility criteria, the labourer should have been registered on the department’s portal for at least five years. There are around 17.80 lakh such labourers in the state who come under the ambit of the scheme. However, only 21 labourers have come forward to apply for the assistance under the scheme, said people familiar with the matter.
The labour department has decided to offer 50% of the scooter’s cost or up to Rs 40,000, and whichever is lower will be applicable. Seeing the cold response to the scheme, now the labour department has given targets to all districts to encourage labourers to buy the EV Scooty under the scheme and avail of the subsidy benefit. In the initial phase of the scheme, the department has earmarked Rs 40 crores to be given as subsidy on purchase of 1000 EV Scooties. The department intends to increase the benefit up to 10,000 EV Scooties.
A senior officer of the labour department said that the poor response to the scheme is attributed to the lack of awareness among labourers towards the scheme. Henceforth, now ways are being devised to spread the word. Under the scheme, the labourer after purchasing the scheme EV Scooty will have to upload the documents on the labour department’s portal and thereafter the cash benefit under the scheme will be transferred into the bank account of the beneficiary.
“We are trying our best to ensure that all eligible labourers come forward to avail themselves of the benefits of the scheme which is of pioneering nature in itself.” Ratnakar Jha, Dy secretary of Labour Dept
