Pension in works for 8.5 million construction workers

The move is aimed at providing social security to these workers after retirement and would require amendment to The Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, said people aware of the deliberations.

The labour and employment ministry estimates that there are 8.5 million workers in the country engaged in building and other construction works. As of now, only half of the building and other construction workers are enrolled with the state welfare boards and the remaining are deprived of all benefits under the scheme.

“Besides, the ministry could introduce a pan-India card for construction workers to allow portability of benefits to these workers, who constitute a huge part of India’s migrant workers,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.

The ministry is also considering doing away with a mandatory requirement of working for 90 days to avail the benefits under the scheme, according to the person, and plans to simplify registration, renewal and other processes involved while enrolling so that no construction worker is deprived of the benefits under the scheme.

The ministry is banking on the e-Shram portal for data on construction workers in the country, but till date only 27.3 million construction workers have enrolled on the portal.

Under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, state governments, through the state welfare boards, are mandated to frame and implement schemes for the safety, health and welfare of construction workers.

The BOCW fund comprises 1% cess on construction cost of all infrastructure projects in the country. It is levied and collected by states and remitted to the welfare fund.

Currently, different states have different eligibility criteria for availing benefits under the BOCW scheme, making it virtually impossible for migrant workers in the construction sector to enrol under the scheme.

An internal committee set up by the ministry to look into the scheme to make it more effective has proposed restructuring of the scheme to enhance coverage and allow portability of benefits to workers, especially migrant workers.