Workers’ welfare board sits on Rs 2,000 crore, spent Rs 70 crore this year

In 2017-18 (till January 31), Rs 73 crore was spent from the fund, of which Rs 3.48 crore was expended as administrative expenditure under heads such as salary, stationary, conveyance etc. The rest, around Rs 70 crore, went to fund the welfare schemes under the board, including educational assistance, death benefit, funeral benefit, marriage benefit, pension benefit and maternity benefit. However, it was a substantial jump from 2016-17, when Rs 19.41 crore was spent. In 2017-18, the maximum amount, Rs 62 crore, under the welfare head went as educational assistance. For death benefit and maternity benefit, Rs 2.52 crore and Rs 2.13 crore were spent respectively. Till date, 1,783 persons availed the maternity benefit under the scheme, data shows.

Moreover, only Rs 20,000 was sanctioned to workers to buy equipment.

A sum of Rs 84 lakh was spent in the year 2017-18 to provide pension to the beneficiaries. Only Rs 9,860 was spent as medical assistance.

Under the scheme, a building worker, aged above 60, is entitled to a pension benefit of Rs 3,000 per month. The disability pension is also Rs 3,000 per month for members who are permanently disabled owing to paralysis, leprosy, tuberculosis or accidents.

The secretary of the board, A Nedunchezhiyan, could not be reached despite repeated attempts. Rajender Dhar, Additional Labour Commissioner, refused to comment. The AAP government, after coming to power, had hiked the assistance amount under some of the schemes, including maternity and medical benefits.

“Out of over 10 lakh construction workers, only around three lakh are registered with the board. Even the registration process is tedious and a worker is expected to renew it annually. Very often, workers miss the deadline and are deprived of the benefits,” Rajesh Kumar, general secretary of the Indian Federation of Trade Unions, Delhi, said.

Kumar said the reason behind the release of a paltry sum of Rs 20,000 to buy equipment was mainly because workers are told to buy the requisite tools and then produce the receipts to get it reimbursed. The act stipulates that one per cent of any public or private construction project costing over Rs 10 lakh has to be set aside as the cess amount.

In January, the Supreme Court had lashed out at the states over the large amount of unspent money meant for the welfare of workers. The Centre had informed the Court that over Rs 37,000 crore has been collected as cess under the 1996 Act.