The government on Wednesday launched a portal where construction workers can register themselves to avail benefits of various schemes.
The portal, named Building and other Construction Workers (BoCW) Management Information System (MIS), was launched during a review meeting chaired by labour secretary Sumita Dawra.
The portal will function as the centralised data management system for compilation and analysis of the data obtained from BoCW welfare boards of the states.
The Labour secretary asked the states/UTs to register on the portal and update their details, including fund utilisation, on boarding of data on registration of the workers under various central and state schemes, pertaining to social security benefits, insurance, health benefits and housing schemes among others.
During the meeting, it was also noted that presently there are around 57 million workers registered with building and construction workers welfare boards of various states & UTs across the country, with a cumulative cess amounting to around Rs 1.15 trillion.
Of this, the boards have spent more than Rs 66,000 crores for providing benefits under various welfare schemes to these workers.
“The ministry is also working with the state BoCW welfare boards to extend the benefits of various central government schemes to BoC workers by utilising BoCW cess funds. As a result, Ayushman Cards for health benefits have been approved for 13 million BoCW workers under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) scheme. More than 85,000 workers have been covered with insurance under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PM-JJBY) scheme, and another 124,000 workers have been covered for protection against disability under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PM-SBY) scheme,” said labour ministry in a statement.
The states and UTs were also requested to expedite the integration of BoC workers’ data with the E-Shram portal of the Ministry to enable access to various schemes as a one-stop-solution for unorganized sector workers.
The review meeting also took stock of the preparedness of states/UTs with respect to harmonisation and finalisation of draft rules under the four new labour codes. The Labour secretary asked the states to streamline their rules with the draft central rules to ensure consistency across the country.
“To further collaboration among states/ UTs and central government on the issue of labour reforms, the Ministry will be organising six regional meetings with the states/UTs over the next two months at different locations,” the statement added.