Construction work underway at Barapullah, Monday. There are less than 40,000 registered workers in the city. (Express photo: Abhinav Saha)
The Delhi government Monday announced the launch of a 10-day “online registration drive” for construction workers, with Labour Minister Gopal Rai expressing hope that more building labourers will come under the social safety net through this process.
The announcement comes five days after the government filed a status report in the Delhi High Court, listing challenges in carrying out a fresh registration drive during the Covid-19 pandemic, mainly involving the difficulty for workers to access the internet. The government filed the report after homeless rights activist Sunil Kumar Aledia moved the HC, highlighting the drop in the number of registered workers from over 3.16 lakh, out of which 1.28 lakh were active, in 2015 to less than 40,000 in 2020. Aledia filed the PIL based on a report by The Indian Express dated April 2.
On Monday, Rai said the government has so far been able to transfer an assistance amount of Rs 5,000 each to 39,600 workers registered with the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which has a corpus of over Rs 2,000 crore collected as cess from construction projects.
He said a decision has also been taken to provide the 39,600 workers with Rs 5,000 more. The drive is being undertaken to enlist more workers, who “have been urging that they be registered or their memberships be renewed as well”, he added.
In its May 6 status report to the HC, the government — under the head “administrative issues related to registration/renewal during pandemic/lockdown” — pointed out that the registration process requires physical presence of workers for clicking photos, verifying documents.
“To do away the requirement of physical presence/opening of office, the necessary upgradation/change in IT structure would be required, which is not feasible during the lockdown. Reaching/contacting workers through WhatsApp may not be effective since most workers may not have smart phones.
“Submission of scanned forms may also not be possible… For payment of registration fee, online platforms may have to be accessed by workers, which may not be possible…,” the report says.
Rai said once the drive ends on May 25, applications will be verified, for which workers will have to show up at labour offices with documents. On a daily basis, tokens will be issued to 50 applicants to ensure social distancing, he said.
Under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, a building worker is eligible to register only if he or she has been engaged in building or construction work for not less than 90 days during the preceding 12 months. The registration has to be renewed annually.
“The Delhi BOCWW Board is duly concerned in providing relief to registered construction workers. However, the Board is also bound by the legal framework that is required to be followed in letter and spirit. The relief from cess fund can be given only to a registered worker,” the government told the court.