Livelihoods: The central government has asked states to pay construction workers via Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) instead of distributing household and other articles to them from the construction cess fund.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment issued an order to this effect on March 22nd to all state welfare boards for building and other construction workers (BOCW). These boards are meant to use the money collected by states as cess on construction for workers’ welfare.
As per a statement by the labour ministry, the order was issued after it noticed some state boards issuing tenders or incurring expenditure on distribution of articles such as lanterns, blankets, umbrellas, cycles, and utensils, instead of spending money on “tangible welfare measures” such as insurance, disability cover, and maternity benefits. “Transfer of money in the form of cash has been completely stopped by the instant order and any monetary assistance has to be necessarily given through DBT. The order also puts a ban on the distribution of articles in kind.”
According to the latest figures from the ministry, INR 5,618 crore has been disbursed by state welfare boards to about 18.3 million construction workers, directly into their bank accounts through DBT. The payment range from INR 1,000 to INR 6,000 per person.
States are allowed to collect cess at a rate of one percent of construction costs of public and private building projects and allocate these funds to the BOCW boards.
Read this article on the need to create a system of labour and profit that is more balanced and equitable