The religious trips of nearly 1.5 crore labourers employed in Uttar Pradesh may soon be funded by the UP government.
As reported by Hindustan Times, the scheme is expected to be announced by CM Yogi Adityanath on November 10, which happens to be the birth anniversary Dattopant Thengadi, RSS ideologue who founded the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), a trade union organization, which acts as a pressure group to enforce pro-labour policies.
The scheme would reportedly cover all labourers employed in about 6.5 lakh commercial establishments and 20,500 factories and workshops in Uttar Pradesh.
The report quoted UP's labour welfare board chairman Sunil Bharala as saying that the plan is aimed at "ensuring that labourers not only get time off from their daily grind but are also able to acquaint themselves with the country's rich cultural and religious diversity."
He further said, "To my mind, there is no such scheme anywhere that allows labourers free travel and stay."
"All of our schemes would be named after great personalities. For instance, the religious tourism scheme could be named after Swami Vivekananda, the textbook one after great litterateur Mahadevi Verma and the sporting one could be after former India cricketer and UP minister Chetan Chauhan, or late VHP leader Ashok Singhal or former RSS chief Rajju Bhaiya," Bharala added.
