44
* Department of Labour
(Demand for Supplementary Grant in respect of)
The Honourable Sir Jeremy Raisman : Sir, I move :
“That a supplementary sum not exceeding Rs. 2,40,000 be granted to the Governor General in Council to defray the charges which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1945 in respect of ‘Department of Labour’.”
Mr. Chairman (Syed Ghulam Bhik Nairang): Motion Moved :
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Labour Member): As my friend Prof. Ranga probably knows, last year the Government of India imposed a cess on coal, called the Coal Mines Welfare Cess which is levied at the rate of 4 annas per ton on coal produced. It was with regard to the administration of this coal fund that the Coal Mines Welfare Officer was appointed. The Coal Mines Welfare Fund is administered by a committee. The committee is constituted of equal representatives of employers, equal representatives of workers in coal mines, representatives of the Provincial governments, namely, of Bihar and Bengal and is presided over by the Secretary of the Labour Department, as the Chairman. The Committee is more or less an autonomous body. It has its own budget which is prepared by the Coal Commissioner. It is submitted to the Committee and the Coal Mines Welfare Commissioner is the executive authority over this expenditure. All questions of welfare, for instance, such as malaria, water supply, medicine and other matters relating to coal welfare are considered by this Committee.
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : Do you exercise any control over it in any way ?
- Legislative Assembly Debates (Central), Vol. III, 27th March 1945, pp. 2138-41.