Jammu: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan convened the 18th meeting of Jammu & Kashmir Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (J&K BOCWWB) at the Civil Secretariat here today. The Advisor who is also the Chairman of the Board, discussed issues and proposals for welfare of construction workers engaged throughout the Union Territory.
The Chairman underlined that the pace of financial assistance schemes need to be expedited and cases be disposed swiftly in time bound manner. He also called for shifting application process to online mode for better accountability and quick delivery of services.
Farooq Khan called for disposal of all kinds of welfare applications within a period of three months, particularly for the offline applications. Assistant Labour Commissioners are to be made accountable for the work, he said.
The Chairman decided that worker registration, once done, would now be valid for a period of three years instead of one, to save workers from yearly hassle of renewal. For future applications of different kind, he set deadlines within which the board would need to dispose them off. He called for organising ‘serious awareness drives’ to educate workers about the welfare schemes and other benefits being provided by the government.
To upgrade the board’s working, the Chairman expressed that they learn and adopt best practices from their counterparts from other states of the country. He also directed the CEO to re-launch the marriage assistance scheme after due deliberations and after circulating fresh rules and conditions within the board.
Additional Chief Secretary Finance, Atal Dulloo highlighted that workers from outside J&K need to be given special attention as they constitute a significant portion of the workforce.
The Chairman also called for their enrollment on ‘mission mode’. Arrangements be made for awareness campaigns and the schemes be advertised in all vernacular press, he advised.
Principal Secretary PWD(R&B), Shailendra Kumar stressed that no worker should feel left out or ignored and therefore every case be given due attention. He also called for disposal of all pending education and marriage assistance applicants within five months.
Earlier, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary, J&K BOCWWB, Munir ul Islam gave a detailed presentation about the working, targets and achievements to the board members. It was told that more 5 lakh worker registrations have been done so far in the current financial year. Details of welfare schemes like financial assistance in case of accidents, permanent and temporary disabilities, funeral assistance, maternity benefits and education assistance to children of the workers and some others were presented before the board by the CEO.
Other issues like skill development, medical claims, Covid-19 relief, Labour Sarai (Labour Hostels) and community kitchens for workers were also discussed at the meeting.
The members present at the meeting also included Commissioner Secretary, Labour & Employment, Sarita Chauhan; Commissioner Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Mandeep Kaur; Secretary Social Welfare, Sheetal Nanda; Secretary Law, Achal Sethi; Labour Commissioner, Abdul Rashid War and representatives of various labour unions.
