Plea for Surat's Unemployed Diamond Workers
December 29, 24
(IDEX Online) - Opposition politicians in India are demanding immediate government help for diamond workers who have lost their jobs.
Members of the opposition Congress party in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly say benefits have not been provided to the estimated 30,000 diamond workers in Surat who have been laid off in the last six months.
Amit Chavda, opposition leader in the state assembly, accused the government of failing to extend its unemployment insurance scheme to diamond industry workers during the current crisis.
He said that under the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana scheme, workers laid off due to company closure should receive 50 per cent of their salary for the first year and 25 per cent for the second.
Surat, the world's capital for diamond cutting and polishing, is home to around 5,000 units, employing an estimated 800,000 people.