Urgent Attn: Union Labour and Employment Minister and Chief Minister of Telangana and all states of India
Sub: Implementation of Building and Other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act of 1996.
Ref:
1. Construction workers in Hyderabad-Rangareddy not registered with Telangana State Building And Other Construction Worker Welfare Board. Bank Accounts without ATM cards.
2. Article in The Hindu: Bank Details Sought of Registered Construction Workers
A. Unregistered construction workers from Bihar:
Two batches of construction workers of 38+20 are stranded near Balanagar crossroads at their construction sites. They are from Bihar. Upon inquiry, it has come to our knowledge that they do not have registration cards. They do have bank accounts but do not have ATM cards. Their accounts are in home towns at Bihar in various banks. They do not know of a licensed contractor, they only know their ‘thekedar’ who put them on to work.
B. Unregistered workers from Chattisgarh:
Another batch of construction workers numbering 15 near Sultan Bazar, Kothi, are not registered construction workers. They have bank accounts in Grameen and other banks in Chattisgarh but do not have ATM cards. they do not know licensed contractor, they know ‘thekedar’.
C. There could be many such construction workers not registered thru Form XXVII as per the Building and Other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act of 1996. Governments must ensure that they are not deprived of the construction workers welfare fund for lack of registration which is not their fault or effects their immediate registration without it being a barrier to their accessibility to their welfare fund. A job card or registration paper cannot be a hindrance to their entitlement.
D. As regards those construction workers who are registered with the Telangana Building and Other Construction workers welfare board form xxvii contains all details regarding migrant status, state of origin, bank account, Aadhar number, ration card, place of work, permanent and present address, details of employer with address, etc.
It is appalling that with such data availability with regard to registered construction and other building workers even after march 24 letter from union minister of labour, Telangana government is yet to use the Cess collected from widespread constructions from 2014 to 2020 for the construction workers welfare.
E. In fact, At item 10 in the schemes under Telangana construction and other workers welfare board, there is a provision for unregistered workers. Hence construction workers who are not registered may be brought under the relief measure for Covid-19 pandemic displacement.
10 Relief to the unregistered workers 1. Fatal Accidental Relief: Death occurred at work-site. 2. Disability Relief: (i) 50% and above Partial Permanent Disability to the worker. (ii) 50% below Partial Permanent Disability. G.O.Ms.No.63, dt.21-11-2011, LET&F (Lab-IV) Department.
F. We further make a strong recommendation that the construction and other workers be allocated a generous amount from the cess, i.e., entitlement, as this is the right time to compensate with nutritious diet to boost immunity and arrange counselling to boost their morale.
Our construction workers are far from their near and dear ones and to make them feel at home, releasing their entitlements from Workers Welfare Cess on war footing should be the government’s top priority to contain the humanitarian crisis that’s emanating out of this huge medical crisis.
we urge all political parties with their representatives in assembly/ parliament to reach out to construction and other workers, in their respective constituencies, who are registered/unregistered and enable them to get their entitlement from construction and other workers welfare cess. Help country out of this avoidable crisis.
Congress, CPIM, CPI, AIMIM are copied in this email.
Best,
Prof Sandeep Pandey, Vice President, Socialist Party (India)
Dr Lubna Sarwath, Telangana General Secretary, Socialist Party (India)
