Delhi govt to provide housing, free bus passes & group life insurance to construction workers

 

Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, presided over a high-level meeting with the labor department on Monday to assess how the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board is operating. Kejriwal gave the department the order to offer Delhi's construction employees discounted accommodation. Additionally, the agency has been instructed to offer free transit hostels, group life insurance, and bus passes to all city construction workers.

In accordance with this proposal, the government would provide LIG flats to construction workers by covering 75% of the associated expenditures; the beneficiary will only be responsible for the remaining 25%.

The Delhi government additionally said that toolkits and skill development for masons, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and painters will be made widely available. Kejriwal also promised the creation of on-site creches and free coaching for the kids of construction workers.

For Delhi's construction workers, who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and have been facing several difficulties, these steps are a huge comfort. The CM has underlined the significance of efficiently managing the department and giving each employee access to welfare programs.

The Welfare Board's inability to connect with each and every Delhi construction worker infuriated Chief Minister Kejriwal. Even though 13 lakh construction employees are registered with the board, according to him, there is no system in place to confirm their existence or get in touch with them.

"There is no use in running this department itself if the department is only providing these schemes' benefits to 400–500 persons at most. The department must make all 13 lakh employees eligible for its programs if it has Rs. 3,000–4,000 crore on hand. 

"The department has several extremely well-intentioned projects, but for some reason, it has not properly promoted them. Start contacting every worker who has registered on their phones. Sending SMS and IVRS messages to every employee's phone would be significantly less expensive and more successful than doing TV and radio advertisements. 

When we have all the resources available, we should do all possible to ensure that our employees receive the benefits of our plans, he said. The CM also ordered the officials to start developing an action plan right now to carry out such a campaign of awareness.

In order to expand the pension benefit to registered workers over 60, he also instructed them to ascertain and submit the number of such workers within a week.

Kejriwal instructed the board to meet with representatives of land-owning organizations including the DDA, MCD, DUSIB, and DSIIDC to develop a plan for how much land the government can obtain for the plan to offer affordable accommodation for construction workers.

He instructed the officials to look into the prospect of obtaining both land on which the government could build homes and hostels on its own and dwellings that had already been built by these organizations.

The officials informed the CM that after reconstruction, land designated for the government's Co-Working Spaces (CWS) may be used for this. The chief minister praised the suggestion and instructed the department to implement it initially on a pilot basis.

Additionally, Arvind Kejriwal agreed to a proposal to include all registered Delhi workers in the ESI Scheme. The members of ESI are eligible for a variety of benefits, including pensions, maternity benefits, disability benefits, maternity benefits, sickness benefits, and medical benefits.

The board has been given instructions by the Delhi Chief Minister to develop a thorough action plan outlining how it intends to verify every employee within two months, as well as how it intends to offer all registered workers discounted housing and hostels, group life insurance, free bus passes, ESI coverage, and educational benefits. The plan must be ready by the first week of May, and the board must give it to the CM for further evaluation.