States advised to provide transit accommodation to construction workers

Jan 04,2019

States advised to provide transit accommodation to construction workers

Sasikala Raje
January 4, 2019

According to the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, the States have been advised to take proactive steps to facilitate transit accommodation/labour shed cum night shelter, mobile toilets and mobile creches to Building and Other Construction (BOC) workers out of the State BOCW welfare cess fund. As the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 provides for State BOCW welfare cess fund for which a cess is levied and collected at the rate of 1% of the cost of construction by the State Governments under the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996, assistance/aid is not provided by the State and Central Governments out of their Budget. Section 34 of the Act makes it mandatory for the employer to provide, free of charges and within the work site or as near to it as may be possible, temporary living accommodation, with separate cooking place, bathing, washing and lavatory facilities, to all building workers employed by him for such period as the building or other construction work is in progress.

The Building and Other Construction Workers State Welfare Board constituted under section 18 of the Act is mandated to register and provide for social security and welfare of the registered workers in the respective States. The number of registered Building and Other Construction (BOC) workers in the country, up to 30.09.2018, is approximately around 3.16 crore.

BOC Act provides for safety, health and welfare measures for the building and other construction workers. Every building worker who has completed eighteen years of age, but is below sixty years of age, and who has been engaged in any building or other construction work for not less than ninety days during the preceding twelve months is eligible for registration as a beneficiary under this Act.