Set-up vaccination camps in working class areas, appeals trade union leader

President of Maharashtra Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) Jaiprakash Chhajed has appealed to state Health Minister Dr Rajesh Tope to hold COVID 19 vaccination camps near residents of the working class, so that they do not lose a day’s salary.

Chhajed, a former legislator of Maharashtra said in a letter to Dr Tope that often a person has to spend a day to get the vaccination, which amounts to loss of a day’s wage. He pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a Vaccination Mahotsav between April 11 and 14 and emphasised that during this period vaccination camps should be set up in the residential areas of the labourers. 

In a separate appeal to office bearers and other members of INTUC, Chhajed said that migrant labourers, who had gone back to their native places have started returning to Maharashtra and there is a fear that some of them would try to go adopt reverse migration once again.

He expressed concern in the spurt in the COVID 19 cases in Maharashtra, with the state registering 60 per cent of the cases in the country. “The situation has badly affected workers in the organised and unorganised sectors and it is the moral responsibility (of the INTUC members) to support the working class and the marginalised sections,” Chhajed said in his appeal to INTUC activists.