In February, the state government had announced a special month-long drive to register construction workers with the Building and Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.(Express File Photo/For representational purpose)
With the deadline of a month-long drive to register construction workers round the corner, officers of the Additional Labour Commissionerate are racing against time to meet their target. But, they say, the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation are yet to provide them a list of ongoing construction projects, and this was hampering the registration drive.
In February, the state government had announced a special month-long drive to register construction workers with the Building and Construction Workers’ Welfare Board. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had kicked off the registration drive on February 23, and it was to be conducted across Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Amravati. As part of the drive, officers were expected to visit construction sites and register workers. The registration fee is Rs 25 and a registered worker is eligible to avail benefits of the various welfare schemes run by the Board.
While Pune officials have been given a target of registering 65,000 workers by the deadline — March 23 — only 16,674 workers were registered by Wednesday. However, officials at the Additional Labour Commissionerate said their letters to the PMC and the PCMC had gone unanswered. “We had written to the civic bodies and asked for details about ongoing projects. We had asked them to give us a list of their registered contractors. We are yet to receive any response from them,” said an officer of the department. The lack of such lists — on construction projects and contractors — was hindering the drive to register workers, he said.
In some cases, realtors have also refused to cooperate with the process, said officials. Sarang Kamthekar, BJP leader and president of the Bandkam Asangathi Kamgar Sanghtana, said they would ensure that the PCMC cooperates with the Labour Commissionerate’s efforts. “As an organisation, we have been at the forefront of getting workers registered with the Board,” he said. Kamthekar said the civic body has already published the list of contractors and construction sites in its jurisdiction, and it could act as a ready referral for the labour commissionerate.
Rohit Gera, vice president of Credai-Pune Metro, a realtors’ body, said they have instructed their members to ensure that all their labourers are registered with the Board. “We have followed this up with a helpline as well as seminars,” he said. Some of the realtors, however, questioned how the target of registering 65,000 workers was finalised. The target, they said, might be inflated as Credai has ensured regular registration of their labourers for a long time.