Govt to digitise records of all construction workers in city

The Delhi government has issued directions to ensure that all records of construction workers in the city are digitised for ease of registration in the welfare fund,

The Delhi government has issued directions to ensure that all records of construction workers in the city are digitised for ease of registration in the welfare fund, which involves filing and verification of a list of documents and needs annual renewal, a senior government official said.

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“Since January 2019, the application process for the welfare fund was made online and applicants started filing soft copies. But till 2018, they used to submit photocopied papers in the labour offices. So, the digitisation move is expected to reduce paper load and files in the offices and also ensure ease of registration in the welfare fund which requires verification. Digital records are convenient for reference. It will speed up the process,” said the official.

Being registered in the fund entitles construction workers to certain benefits — such as financial assistance for medical emergencies, death, marriages and education of children . The welfare fund came into focus during the lockdown that was imposed on March 25 to arrest the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and led to mass loss of jobs in construction and several other sectors. In Delhi, the board started disbursing ₹5,000 per month to the bank accounts of all workers enrolled under it during the lockdown .

The government had then paid the registered workers Rs 5,000 each for three months during the lockdown.

Construction workers — including plumbers and electricians employed in the construction sector, painters, those specialising in laying tiles, security guards at sites and those working on drainage systems, among others — aged between 18 and 60 years are eligible for registration under the scheme. To avail the programme, they need an official photo identity card, a bank account number, residential proof in Delhi and proof that they have worked in the construction sector for at least 90 days in 12 months prior to the registration.

According to estimates of labour union bodies in the Capital, there are around 1 million construction workers. Government records, however, showed that more than 60,000 workers had registered for the welfare fund already.

On May 21, the Delhi high court had directed the welfare board, which comes under the Delhi government’s labour department, to take steps to renew the membership of all its workers, so that all associated benefits help them cushion the loss of earnings during the lockdown. The court had observed that over 500,000 construction workers in Delhi, who fell off the safety net under the watch of the city’s welfare board, cannot be deprived of benefits just because they were unable to renew their annual registration formality.

“Digitisation is good but there are severe problems in the online registration process which the government should fix before anything else. If one has to claim money for some emergency, there is no online form for that yet and currently offline forms are not being accepted. In the online process, there is also a limitation in appointing nominees. Apparently, the department is also understaffed. That too should be taken care of,” said Thaneshwar Dayal Adigaur, secretary of Delhi Asangathit Nirmaan Mazdoor union and member of an advisory committee to the government.