Former Finance Minister and Senior Congress Leader P.Chidambaram chaired a press conference on Wednesday. Through video-conferencing he spoke to the press. In his briefing, he urged the Central Government to announce a scheme that protects the salaries and wages of 12 crore workers in the MSME and Non MSME Sector.
He pointed out that the payday for the workers are nearing close. “We urge the Prime Minister to step in urgently and announce an assitance package to protect the wages and salaries and paycheck that is due in next few days” P.Chidambaram said.
Since these lockdowns have made the months as non-productional period, the employers are facing a hardtime collecting sources to provide salaries to their workers.
P.Chidambaram stated that if there is no timely financial assistance from the Government, then “the private sector will be forced to resort to large scale retrenchments and layoffs which will devastate livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people”.
He proposed the Govt about a Paycheck Protection Program for workers and said that the Govt should announce a financial package for MSME Sector and support them in this fight.
He also urged the Govt to prepare Exit Strategy and look into the issues of migrants stranded in different places.