Construction workers contest govt over use of welfare funds

NEW DELHI: Representatives of the workers unions in the Delhi Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board are at loggerheads with the government over a proposal to use funds of Rs 900 crore for projects like hospitals, anganwadis and schools.
Even as the government claimed that these projects would be used for the welfare of construction workers, the unions said that they won't have exclusive rights to the facilities that would be opened up for outsiders.
In a board meeting held on June 2, the government's proposal for tentative allocation of Rs 100 crore for schools, Rs 200 crore for hospitals, Rs 400 crore for anganwadis, Rs 200 crore for temporary accommodation and Rs 50 crore towards cycles for eligible registered beneficiaries to commute to their work place, was hotly contested by some of the board members.
"We know we cannot divert money and are not doing so. These facilities are being made for the benefit of construction workers -- like the Army built the Research and Referral Hospital for its personnel," said PWD minister Satyendar Jain, who chaired the meeting in the absence of labour minister Gopal Rai.
Lata, one of the representatives who has opposed the government's move, said that none of these schemes was meant specifically for construction workers. "Why are they giving out things like cycles and not safety mechanisms that labourers need? When we created a ruckus, the minister said that our objections should be sidestepped," she said.
"Every government hospital then should be counted under a welfare scheme for us if we can get free or subsidised treatment there. What is so special about the hospitals they are proposing? It is just a ploy to fund government schemes," she added.
Under the Delhi Building and other Construction Workers Welfare Board Act, the duty of the board is to "constitute building and other construction workers fund and to utilise the same for providing certain welfare schemes like financial assistance to the families in case of accident, old age pension, housing loans, payment of insurance premium, education, medical and maternity benefits to the workers registered with the board", among others.
An official in the labour department clarified that the board was authorised to decide what constitutes a welfare work and that the schemes for which funds were being sought were still in an initial planning stage.
"Construction workers will get priority in these hospitals and schools; but it will not be exclusively for them. In schools, for instance, the government will have to compensate the board for every child who is not from a construction worker's family. This infrastructure will enhance the facilities we are being able to provide for them at present," he said.