It’s a way of formalising the state’s sizeable construction workforce. Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has put forward a plan for free registration for 10 lakh of these labourers and to bring welfare right to their door. In what will be a mass drive, the Rs 145 fee is off the table; the state is prepared to pick up a tab of some Rs 15 crore to make it happen.
There is as much strategy in this as there is goodwill. With the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers’ (BOCW) Welfare Board widening its net, the government is looking to use social protection and skills as a means to boost productivity and put more money in the pockets of those in a key sector.
The gap the campaign is targeting
You would think with all the urbanisation, we’d have more people covered, but only 2.21 lakh are on the BOCW rolls so far, a number the CM has said is too low. This new campaign is meant to put in new names and revalidate old ones to put an end to that.
Mann has made it known that if you sign up and don’t see any benefits in a year, the state will cover your fee. The idea is to make sure no one is put off by the price or the red tape.
How the plan will be executed
We’re not going to make the workers come to us. The departments have been told to go where they are. We’ll have special camps in the villages and city, even in the evenings when the men are back from a day’s work.
Here is what has been put in place:
– 10 lakh workers to be registered and revalidated without cost
– No more Rs 145 fee for the time being
– The state to put up nearly Rs 15 crore
– Camps in the towns and villages for easy reach
– Some long-overdue improvements like sheds and water at the Labour Chowks
Faster delivery of welfare
Delays have been a problem. According to the Chief Minister, we’ve brought the time it takes to process a claim down from 203 days in 2022-23 to 73. He has called those long waits a deterrent to participation.
With less time between application and action, you can expect to see social security and other help come through in short order. It’s about building some trust in the system as we roll out this mass drive.
Skills push with direct industry relevance
Mann wants to make sure this is tied to a job. The BOCW Board has been put in contact with the Punjab Skill Development Mission to get 50,000 of our live registered workers some hands-on training, whether at a site, an official centre or a camp.
We’re talking about the trades that are in demand: masonry, bar bending, shuttering, scaffolding, quality control, painting, electrical, surveying, and the like – from roads and runways to interior and exterior work, and even some draughting.
He has also given the word to his officials to see that the women in the workforce are not left out. Any woman who is due for it under the Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojna will get her financial aid.
What changes on the ground
It is not just about the forms and the clock. Mann has ordered that the Labour Chowks be made a bit more bearable with some shelter and drinking water for those waiting for a contract.
The BOCW Welfare Board has its work cut out for it to make sure every eligible person is taken care of. You had Cabinet Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian and others in on the review, so there is some top-level eyes on the operation.
Now it comes down to how well we put it into practice. Can we get the camps out there and see good numbers in the evening? If we can, we may well be able to bring a lot of the informal side of things in from the cold, with some good to be had for safety and wages on the project sites as well.
