Only 3% of labour cess utilized in Haryana in the past 3 years
30 Jun, 2013An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details about the disbursement of funds collected under labour cess to the labourers in Haryana.
The reply to the application states that a total of Rs. 711.23 crore was collected by the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board during the last three years. As per the reply, only around 3 per cent of the total collection has actually been utilized.
The builders are charged 1% of the project cost by the labour department for the welfare of construction workers who need to be registered with the department to avail the benefits under various schemes. However, most of the contractors fail to register their labourers with the labour department. Also, labourers are required to produce birth, death and marriage certificates within specified periods to avail of these funds. But due to lack of awareness among the labourers about the scheme and the cumbersome disbursement process, few applications are received by the department to avail these funds.