Thaindian News

Kolkata, Aug 11 (IANS) The Indian Paint Association (IPA) in alliance with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is working on a nationwide insurance programme for painters along with a skill development programme, a top IPA official said Thursday.

“Under our corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, we are working with the CII towards providing insurance cover to the painters. Our target is to cover 10,000 painters under the programme,” IPA president D.P. Basu said at its 48th Annual General Meeting.

However, the IPA will initially start with around 1,000 painters in 2012. Already, talks are on with several public and private insurance companies, Basu said.

“They are our messengers to the consumers. It is our job to ensure their well-being. If a painter, while on job gets injured or dies, the family loses a bread winner along with its resources for treatment. With the insurance scheme, they would be able to get some financial support,” he said.

Basu said that as a majority of the painters do not possess the requisite technical knowledge, a training programme would also be initiated to upgrade their skill level.

“In fact, we already have started such a programme in Lucknow where about 50 painters were given training. We would also be giving daily stipend to the trainees to encourage more participation,” he said.

Basu said the project was getting delayed because of the difficulties in identifying and organising the painters.

“They belong to the unorganised sector. It is a tedious job to locate them in different areas. So, we would initially start with 1,000 and gradually go on to 10,000 across the country,” he said.

He said each of the companies under the association would sponsor a bunch of painters. The minimum amount of insurance will be Rs.50,000.