Has Delhi board dashed construction workers' hopes created by good laws?

By Bharat Dogra 

In 1996 two hope-giving national laws were passed for construction workers which if properly implemented would have by now made available a range of benefits including pensions and financial assistance for education of children. Some such welfare benefits have actually reached construction workers under these laws but the actual benefits are much, much below the potential and in many colonies of construction workers one finds these now to be quite negligible, although the performance can differ from state to state.

In Delhi with all its construction activity the potential for collecting cess-based funds is much higher and the opportunities of taking welfare benefits to workers are easier due to the dense concentration of construction workers in many colonies. Despite this, the performance of taking welfare benefits to workers in Delhi has been poor and over a period of time has become poorer instead of improving. 

I have been regularly monitoring this progress by visiting colonies where many construction workers live as well as labor chowks (gathering points of daily wage workers). On this basis my assessment is that the performance in terms of taking the welfare benefits to genuine construction workers in Delhi was never good enough but it has deteriorated further in recent times and in some colonies with a high concentration of construction workers this deterioration has been quite serious and rapid.

A few years back I would hear about the hopes created by pensions reaching at least a few eligible construction workers. May be in a group discussion I attended only 4 out of 20 eligible persons had got the pensions under these laws but these had kindled hopes and others who had got busy in submitting their forms were in good spirits too. The smile on the face of those who had already started getting their pension under these laws was something to remember and cherish.

It was also very heartwarming to see parents and particularly mothers feeling very happy about the financial assistance their children had received under the special laws for construction workers and which had enabled these students, particularly girl students, to continue their education.

In addition there was occasionally good news about other help received, including help to partially meet marriage expenses.

However with the passage of time such help, which even at that time was much below the real need as well as achievable potential, has decreased significantly, as is also evident from the fact that the number of active registrations for such help have also declined drastically.

In my latest group discussions I could hear hardly any good news, only complaints and woes. There are very few new pensions, while the scheme of financial assistance for students as well as some benefits have collapsed even in those colonies where reasonably good performance had been seen earlier. Even in the case of senior activists who had been involved first in the passing of 1996 laws through a decade-long campaign and later in securing better implementation through court interventions, including a very important case in the Supreme Court of India resulting in hope-giving directions from the highest court, there is increasing frustration that all their efforts and representations for improvement have not given the desirable results in recent times.  

As in other states, the legally created main institution for delivering these benefits is the Board which in Delhi is called the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. Hence in a state and city with a very huge concentration of construction workers, the Board should have been very active in preparing and updating records of genuine construction workers. Unfortunately adequate and proper infrastructure for this was not created and matters worsened with privatization of part of the work relating to web-site and registration. Corruption and political patronage worsened the situation further and many of those who were not construction workers got registered to corner benefits, while many genuine construction workers were kept waiting endlessly.

As Subhash Bhatnagar, who in civil society circles is the most senior activist involved with the passing and better implementation of laws for construction workers over a period of four decades, says—the main identity of the worker for availing the benefits of the two laws is the construction worker identity card but by referring to this loosely as the labor card a wrong impression was created that any worker can be registered and this helped those interested in misusing the laws. Bhatnagar emphasizes that a proper data base of all genuine construction workers should be created and all benefits meant for them should be made available to them speedily. He says that clear instructions from courts for proper implementation of various provisions, including educational assistance for children, are available, and should be implemented in the right spirit. For this the Board should function more efficiently, corruption and malpractices should be strictly curbed.

Bibyani Minj is an experienced activist who has been helping workers for several years to cope with various issues relating to these laws. She says that problems relating to new registrations and renewals have been increasing and sometimes even experienced activists like her are unable get justice for workers despite their best efforts.

Parvati, a construction worker says that earlier officials made efforts to ascertain the genuineness of workers but now such caution is not seen. Mira, who toiled for several years, says you can tell by looking at the hands of construction workers how long they have been working.

It is high time that the Delhi Board improves its functioning so that the long delayed benefits to many, many workers can reach them soon. The same can be said about most other state boards for construction workers as well. 

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The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include "Man over Machine", "Protecting Earth for Children", "Planet in Peril" and "A Day in 2071"