Welfare advisory board for vendors of newspapers

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced that it would set up a newspaper vendors welfare advisory board till March-end. It will be the part of welfare board for the unorganised labourers, as the vendors have similar status given.Labour minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar said in the Assembly that the government will take measures to protect the newspaper distributors, vendors and also instruct the municipal corporations and local bodies not to take action against them.

The issue about newspaper distributors was raised by Shiv Sena leader Sunil Prabhu and BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar in the Assembly. They said that there are over 25,000 newspaper distributors in the state who are having tough life.

“They live without any insurance, provident fund, health facilities. They are subjected to exploitation by the newspaper owners. The municipal corporation sometimes evict their roadside stalls,” Mr Prabhu said.

In his reply, Mr Nilangekar said, “The government will form a welfare advisory board for the newspapers distributors by March 31. The local bodies would be instructed not to take action taken against the vendors. The vendors have been included into the welfare board of unorganised labourers.