Ministry of Labor launches centralized portal for construction workers
The government launched a portal on Wednesday where construction workers can register to take advantage of various schemes.
The portal, called Building and other Construction Workers (BoCW) Management Information System (MIS), was launched during a review meeting chaired by Labour Minister Sumita Dawra.
The portal will function as the centralised data management system for collecting and analysing the data obtained from the BoCW welfare councils in the states.
The Minister of Labour has asked the States/UTs to register on the portal and update their details including details of utilisation of funds, entering details of registration of employees under various Central and State schemes, relating to social security benefits, insurance, health insurance and housing schemes etc.
The meeting also noted that there are currently around 57 million workers registered with the Construction Workers Welfare Boards in various states and UTs across the country, with a cumulative levy of around Rs 1.15 trillion.
Of this, the boards have spent over Rs 66,000 crore on providing benefits under various welfare schemes to these employees.
“The ministry is also working with state BoCW welfare boards to extend benefits of various central government schemes to BoCW employees by utilising BoCW tax funds. As a result, Ayushman Cards for health benefits have been approved for 13 million BoCW employees under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) scheme. Over 85,000 employees have been insured under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PM-JJBY) scheme and another 124,000 employees have been insured for disability protection under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PM-SBY) scheme,” the labour ministry said in a statement.
The states and UTs were also asked to expedite integration of BoC employee data with the ministry’s E-Shram portal so that workers in the unorganised sector can access various schemes as a one-stop solution.
The review meeting also took stock of the preparedness of States/UTs for harmonisation and finalisation of draft rules under the four new labour laws. The Labour Minister asked the States to streamline their rules with the draft rules of the Central Rules to ensure consistency across the country.
βTo promote cooperation between the States/UTs and the Central Government on labour reforms, the Ministry will organise six regional meetings with the States/UTs at different locations in the next two months,β the statement said.
First publication: Aug 21, 2024 | 11:51 PM IST