CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday doubled the monthly pension for weavers and traditional medicine practitioners in the State from Rs 550 to Rs 1,000 and from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 respectively. As many as 1,649 weavers and 9,563 traditional medicine practitioners practicing Siddha, Ayurveda and Unani systems of medicines will be benefited by this move, an official release here said. The Tamilnadu Co-operative Handloom Weavers Family Pension Scheme was introduced on January 1, 1992 during the previous tenure of Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister. Under the scheme, if a worker dies or becomes disabled before the age of 60, the kin would receive a monthly pension of `550 for a period of 10 years. Even if the person dies after attaining the age of 60, the kin are eligible for a similar amount. This pension scheme has been revised now. After assuming the office of the CM for the third term, Jayalalithaa had hiked the monthly pension from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for workers, who had registered themselves with various welfare boards. A total of 11,062 workers, aged above 60 and registered under the welfare boards for manual workers, autorickshaw and taxi drivers, laundry workers, hairdressers, tailors, handicraft workers, palm tree workers, footwear and leather goods manufacturing workers, painters, goldsmiths, potters, house-hold workers and employees of shops and business establishments have benefited from the scheme.Similarly, the monthly pension amount for workers who have registered themselves with the Tamilnadu Co-operative Handloom Weavers Board had also been hiked from Rs 400 to Rs 000, benefiting 19,404 persons.
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