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J&K’s poor policies left construction workers in lurch, says CAG report

April 25, 2022

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It appears that authorities have left the vulnerable construction and other buildings workers in Jammu and Kashmir alone to fend for themselves, as the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) has found that the Jammu and Kashmir Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board meant to undertake welfare schemes had failed to generate awareness among the workers which deprived this vulnerable group from claiming benefits under the Act.

In its audit to assess the effectiveness of welfare activities undertaken by the Board for construction and other building workers in the six districts (Udhampur, Reasi, Kishtwar, Kulgam, Baramulla and Kupwara) out of 20 districts, CAG found that the unspent balances on account of labour cess had increased from Rs.296.19 crore to Rs.622.05 crore during the five-year period ended March 2020.

Under the provisions of the Act, all workers (including those working with contractors) between 18 and 60 years of age and having worked for at least 90 days in the preceding twelve months, engaged in construction of roads, buildings, etc. are eligible for registration and for obtaining assistance from the welfare schemes.

The Audit also found that only a small fraction of the registered workers in J&K availed benefits under a few components of the Act. The Labour and Employment Department has entirely failed in registering the eligible migrant labourers under the Act. Various welfare schemes meant to improve the living conditions of workers under the Act such as Housing scheme, insurance and old age pension were not implemented.

It was also observed that ALCs were retaining these unspent balances in the savings bank accounts of the J&K Bank and hence earned interest. The Bank, however, changed the nature of account from savings account to current account of three ALCs from April 2018. The ALCs had not taken up the issue with the Bank which resulted in the loss of interest of ` 11.54 lakh during the two years 2018-20.

Out of 1,09,915 beneficiaries registered in the sampled districts up to the date of launch (June 2017) of the digitization process, the registration records of only 27,853 workers (25 per cent) were uploaded as of September 2020. The registrations were made without submitting the valid age proof, employment certificates. The Audit observed that the Board had not conducted any survey to ascertain the actual number of construction workers nor conducted any advertisement campaigns publicizing benefits available under its welfare schemes to expand its reach amongst the workers.

Out of the 4.09 lakh registered workers with the Board, there were only 273 migrant workers registered in three Districts. In the six sampled Districts, there was no registered migrant worker as of December 2020. Incidentally, a study conducted in the year 2012 had placed the figure of migrant labour in Kashmir Valley alone at more than four lakh.

The Board failed to renew the insurance policy taken from LIC, to provide assistance to nominees/ dependents of workers on their disability/ death.

The board decided to insure only 1.50 lakh workers out of total registered 3,22,235 workers. The Board paid Rs.51.75 lakh as premium to LIC on account of insurance coverage of 1.50 lakh workers covering the period from 01 January 2018 to 31May 2018. The Board did not pay (June 2018) the annual premium to renew the policies and thereafter also, with the result that the death claims in respect of 296 workers, whose kin preferred claims on their demise after 31 May 2018 and upto date of Audit, were not accepted by the LIC. The lapse of the Insurance scheme for the workers deprived at least 296 beneficiaries of the benefit from the scheme had it been continued.

Out of 89,800 workers recommended for micro credit facility, only 148 workers were issued credit cards and no worker had availed the credit facility as of March 2020 resulting in non-utilization of Rs.30 crore deposited with the Bank as security. Among the various welfare activities provided in the Act which are meant to improve the conditions of workers, the Board had failed to implement the following welfare measures.

The Board failed to implement a pension scheme for workers who had attained the age of 60. Audit observed (October 2020) in six selected districts that the Board had failed to pay pension to 2,989 workers who had attained the age of sixty which was to be paid under section 22 (b) of the Act.

Audit observed in the six sampled districts that there were variations in the range of Rs.1.08 lakh (Kishtwar) and Rs.157.5 lakh (Baramulla) was found in the expenditure booked by ALCs vis-à-vis that in the Board records. The Board stated (July 2021) that the reconciliations will be carried out to sort out the discrepancies pointed out by Audit.