NEW DELHI: Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar on Tuesday directed states to distribute funds to construction workers using the direct benefit transfer mode keeping in view the coronavirus pandemic. In an advisory issued to all chief ministers and lieutenant governors, the minister said, “Under Section 60 of the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, all states/UTs have been advised to transfer funds in the account of construction workers through DBT (direct benefit transfer) mode from the cess fund collected by the Labour Welfare Boards under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) cess Act.”
India has around 3.5 crore registered construction workers. They are registered with the construction worker welfare boards. The advisory urges states to use the construction cess funds to be transferred to the construction workers. According to the ministry, `52,000 crore has been collected across the country in the form of construction cess.
The cess has been levied and is being collected at 1 per cent of the cost of construction as notified by the central government. Urging officials to devise a mechanism to support the unorganised workers who sustain on daily wages, Gangwar in the letter said.