In PMC areas, thousands of unregistered labourers lose out on welfare schemes

Three workers fell to their death at a construction site in Dattawadi on Wednesday. Express

The death of three workers at a construction site mishap in Dattawadi on Wednesday has once again highlighted the fact that thousands of labourers working on such sites remain beyond the ambit of welfare schemes under the Maharashtra Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. Only labourers registered with the Board can avail facilities such as life insurance, medical aid, and financial assistance for the higher education of their children.

A review conducted by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), in the wake of the Dattawadi incident, has revealed that the civic body has managed to get only 165 construction labourers registered with the Board.

“Two reminders in two years to register the labourers — private as well as civic — have fallen on deaf ears of the various civic departments, as only 165 workers have been registered under the Maharashtra Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which provides various welfare schemes for the labourers,” said a civic officer.

On November 6, 2015, the state government had issued a notification to undertake a drive to register labourers in the construction industry within the civic jurisdiction. After a communication by the Bandhkam Mazdoor Sangh, the PMC had urged the various civic departments concerned, headed by the City Engineer, to carry out the drive in the civic jurisdiction and register all labourers who have worked for at least 90 days a year, and issue them a certificate.

The then additional municipal commissioner Rajendra Jagtap once again issued directions to the civic department heads to take a drive to register all the labourers with the Board. The city engineer, the chief engineer of the Water Supply and Traffic Planning, and the superintendent engineers of Building Construction, Road, JNNURM, Sewage Treatment, Technical, Anti-encroachment and Garden were asked to complete the process of getting the labourers registered with the Board.

“The Garden Department registered 10, the Sewage Treatment Department registered 18, the Road Department registered 23, and the Building Permission Department registered 114 labourers,” said the civic official, adding that the labourers who have not been registered are unable to avail the benefits of the welfare schemes of the Board.

“The Parliamentary Committee, which was looking into the implementation of the notification by states, had conveyed its displeasure over the minimal registration of the labourers with the Board. The chief minister had urged that all labourers should be covered and registered with the Board,” he added.

Now, the labour office of the PMC has recommended that for the effective implementation of the notification, it should be made mandatory for developers or contractors to register labourers with the Board, before the former are granted permission for constructing a building or are issued a completion certificate for an under-construction building.

The labour office also suggested that the building permission department should nominate a deputy engineer in each of the zones of the PMC, as well as a junior engineer in ward offices, and entrust them with the task of registering labourers in their respective areas. The deputy labour officer should be entrusted with the responsibility of reviewing the work of the nominated civic officers, it said.

Nitin Pawar of the Hamal Panchayat and Bandhkam Mazdoor Sangh alleged that while accidents, such as the one in Dattawadi, force the PMC to “ wake up” to the need of registering labourers, the civic body soon “forgets” about the issue.

“The family of the deceased labourer suffers if he is not registered with the Board, but no one is serious about the issue… The Board also makes it compulsory to provide proper living and working conditions for the labourers,” Pawar said, adding that he will again take up the matter with the civic body.