In 1996, two acts were passed to promote the welfare of building and construction workers. These acts mandated constitution of ‘Construction Workers Welfare Boards’ at the state level and collection of 1% Cess from builders on the cost of construction. The Cess collected is to be spent by these boards to extend various welfare schemes to the registered construction workers. Though 2.15 crore workers are registered with these boards so far, states have spent just 21% of the Cess collected in the last 4 years.

Government of India brought ‘The Building And Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act’ in 1996 to levy and collect 1% to 2% Cess on the cost of construction incurred by builders to augment the resources of the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Boards. These boards are constituted in every state under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act of 1996.

What are these Boards for?

As per the provisions of the above mentioned acts, every building & construction worker registered as a beneficiary with the board is entitled to avail benefits under various schemes formulated by the respective ‘State Construction Workers Welfare Board’. The welfare schemes vary from state to state. For E.g., in Andhra Pradesh, the welfare board provides the following benefits for the registered construction workers

• Marriage Gift (Rs 10,000)
• Maternity Benefit (Rs 20,000)
• Fatal Accident Relief (Rs 5,00,000)
• Disability Relief (Up to Rs 5,00,000)
• Natural Death Relief (Rs 60,000)
• Hospitalization relief ( Rs 3,000 per month up to three months)
• Funeral Expenses (Rs 20,000)
• Pension Scheme (Rs 3,000 per year)
• Skill Development Training ( Rs 7,000 cost for training & Rs 300/- per day stipend)

Similarly, the Odisha board also extends different benefits. These benefits are extended to all those who are registered with the boards as a construction worker. A person employed to do any skilled, semi skilled or unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire in connection with any building or other construction work is defined as a construction worker. Various categories of workers come under the definition of construction workers and they are entitled for all the benefits under the Act.

How many workers are registered with these Boards?

A total of 2.15 crore construction workers are registered across the country with these boards. The detailed state wise breakup of the registered construction workers is available only up to 31^stDecember, 2014. According to the available state wise data, Madhya Pradesh leads this list with 24.9 lakh registered workers followed by Tamil Nadu (23.97 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (17.97 lakh), Kerala (16.87 lakh) and Uttar Pradesh (10.91 lakh). Big states like Bihar, Gujarat, and Jharkhand have fewer numbers of workers registered with the respective boards. Not a single worker is registered in Manipur, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, & Lakshadweep. Fewer than 1000 workers are registered in Goa, Daman & Diu, Himachal Pradesh & Nagaland. It is widely believed that not more than 25% of the total construction workforce is registered with these boards primarily because of  lack of awarenes.

How are these boards funded and how to they spend?

The State and the Local governments collect the Cess and then transfer to these boards. From April 2011 to December 2015, a total of 25,477 crore rupees has been collected by the various states.  Out of this amount, the state boards spent a meager 5371.52 crore rupees or just 21.1% of the total cess collected. The state wise breakup of amount spent by these boards is available only up to September 2015.  Only 7 states have spent more than a third of these funds. Of these, only Kerala & West Bengal state welfare boards spent more than 90% of Cess collected. Only two other states (Chhattisgarh & Mizoram) spent more than half the amount of Cess collected. About 20 States/UTs have spent less than 15% of the total cess collected.

The data indicates that the states that collected the highest amount of cess spent the least on the welfare of the construction workers. Maharashtra collected a total of 3558 crore rupees in these three years, but spent just 6% of this amount on the welfare of workers. Similarly, Karnataka collected 3131 crore rupees, but spent just 5% of this amount. Uttar Pradesh (13%), Haryana (4.5%), Delhi (8.6%), Madhya Pradesh (34%), Tamil Nadu (32.6%) and Kerala (94.7%) are next in the list. A total of 11 states collected more than 1000 crore rupees each. These 11 states accounted for more than 82% of the total cess collected in the country and together spent just 16% of the cess.

Labour Welfare an empty talk?

This indifference is seen across party lines and in various states. Gujarat that has been ruled by the BJP for close to two decades has spent only 1.1% of the cess collected. States like Maharashtra that have been ruled by the Congress till recently  have fared no better. The only exception seems to be Kerala & West Bengal.

The Central Government says it has been constantly reminding the State governments and State Welfare Boards to take steps to accelerate registration of construction workers, collection and utilization of cess. But despite all this talk, there is hardly any progress on ground. Every political party talks of labour welfare on the eve of May Day, but the talk is not translating into action.