AIDS control employees association writes to NACO seeking salary raise and welfare benefits

The Tamil Nadu AIDS Control All Employees Welfare Association has urged the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to provide annual salary raise, include all eligible employees under the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme and extend Ayushman Bharat health coverage to all employees working under various components under the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society (TANSACS).

In a letter to the Director General of NACO, the association raised the long-standing issue of lack of salary enhancement and absence of essential employee welfare benefits.

“It is disheartening to inform you that for the past several years, the employees engaged in different programme components under TANSACS have not received annual increment or financial allowances. Despite their dedicated contribution to the implementation and success of various interventions under the National AIDS Control Programme, these employees continue to work under stagnant remuneration structures, with no provision of inflation-based adjustments, incentives, or allowances,” the association said in the letter.

Many employees were not covered under basic social security schemes such as EPF or health benefit schemes such as Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. The association urged NACO to consider providing annual salary raise through a structured mechanism for annual increments or to introduce cost-of-living adjustments to ensure fair and sustained compensation to all employees.

All eligible employees should be included under EPF scheme to provide financial security and retirement benefits. Extend Ayushman Bharat health coverage to all employees working under various TANSACS components, ensuring access to quality healthcare, the association’s president M. Jayanthi and general secretary M. Cheralathan urged NACO in the letter.

The association hoped that necessary steps to address the welfare and rights of the workforce would be initiated.