The Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare (RE&CS) Act,1996 and the West Bengal

Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board

A. The Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare(RE&CS) Act, 1996
1. Objective of the Act: The Building & Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment
&Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and the West Bengal Building & Other Construction Workers
Rules, 2004 framed thereunder aim to regulate the employment and conditions of service of
building & other construction workers and to provide for their safety, health and welfare
measures.
2. Application of the Act: The Act applies to every establishment, which employs, or had
employed on any day of the preceding twelve months, ten or more building workers in any
building or other construction work.
3. Establishment means any establishment belonging to, or under the control of, Government,
any body corporate or firm, an individual or association or other body of individuals which or
who employs building workers in any building or other construction work; and includes an
establishment belonging to a contractor, but does not include an establishment belonging to a
contractor, but does not include an individual who employs such workers in any building or
construction work in relation to his own residence the total cost of such construction not being
more than rupees ten lakhs.
4. Building or Other Construction work means the construction, alteration, repairs, maintenance
or demolition- of or, in relation to, buildings, streets, roads, railways, tramways, airfields,
irrigation, drainage, embankment and navigation works, flood control works (including storm
water drainage works), generation, transmission and distribution of power, water works
(including channels for distribution of water), oil and gas installations, electric lines, wireless,
radio; television, telephone, telegraph and overseas communication dams, canals, reservoirs,
watercourses, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, aquaducts, pipelines, towers, cooling towers,
transmission towers and such other work as may be specified in this behalf by the appropriate
Government, by notification but does not include any building or other construction work to
which the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948), or the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of
1952), apply.
5. Building worker means a person who is employed to do any skilled, semi-skilled or unskilled
manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of
employment be expressed or implied, in connection with any building or other construction
work
B. Enforcement of the Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare(RE& CS) Act, 1996
1. Registration of Establishments: The Assistant Labour Commissioner are appointed as
Registering Officers under Section 6 of the Building & Other Construction Workers’ Welfare
(Regulation of Employment & Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and. Under Section 9 of the said
Act the Deputy Labour Commissioner are appointed as Appellate Authority. Registration of
Establishments started in the year 2006.
2. Inspectors: All the Minimum Wages Inspectors, ALCs, DLCs, JLCs & Addl. LCs under the Labour
Directorate, West Bengal are declared as Inspectors under Section 42(3) the said Act in respect
of all the provisions of the said Act & Rules thereunder except the provisions relating to safety
and health.
3. Registration of beneficiary: Workers between 18 years & 60 years of age having worked as a
building and construction worker for not less than 90 days during the preceding 12 months shall
be eligible for registration as a beneficiary under the said Act and Rules framed thereunder.

C. The West Bengal Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.

1. Constitution of the Board: Under the said Act the West Bengal Building and Other Construction
Workers’ Welfare Board was constituted in the year, 2005 for administering the benefits under
different schemes and all matters connected with the administration of the West Bengal
Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund. The Minister-in-Charge, Labour
Department is the Chairman of the Board. The Govt. officials, Employers representatives and
Trade Union representatives are the Members of the Board. One Additional Labour
Commissioner, West Bengal is the Secretary of the Board.
2. Activities of the Board:
2.1. Welfare Measures: The Board provides the following welfare measures to the beneficiaries
registered under the Board: a) Accidental Benefit – Hospitalisation & Disablement benefit b)
Medical expenses- Treatment for major ailments including surgery c) Financial Assistance to
T.B. Patients d) Maternity Benefit e) Death Benefit-Accidental& Normal Death Benefit f)
Pension Scheme- Self/Family Pension, Invalid Pension g) Financial Assistance for Education of
Self/Children of Beneficiaries h) Funeral expenses. i) A maximum of Rs.2,000/- to each
beneficiary for purchasing tools j) Cost of spectacle upto Rs.500/- to each registered
beneficiary k) Purchase of Bi-cycles @maximum Rs. 3000/- to beneficiaries l) Marriage
assistance and m) Refund of subscription
2.2. Awareness Generation: The Board also organizes awareness generation camps through its
regional offices throughout the year for spot registration of beneficiaries and distribution of
benefits among the workers who gather at railway stations, bus stands and crossings in search
of jobs.
2.3. Important Decisions taken by the Board during 2012-13:

 Decentralisation of registration of beneficiaries: Since Jan, 2006, the ALCs at the sub-
divisional level are empowered as Beneficiary Registering Officers (BROs). The Board in its
18th meeting has taken a decision to empower all the MW inspectors posted at
blocks/municipalities/RLOs as the beneficiary registering officers from 1st April 2012.
 Contribution: Contribution @ Rs.30/- annually (@Rs 2.50/-per month) instead of Rs. 20/-
per month.
 Enhancement of rate of benefits with effect from April, 2012. (Annexure-A)
 D. Collection of Cess :

 The Building and other Construction Worker’s Welfare Cess Act, 1996 and the Building and
Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Rules, 1998 aim to provide for the levy and
collection and collection of a cess on the cost of construction incurred by employers with a
view to augmenting the resources of the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare
Boards constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of
Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.
 The cess levied under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Act shall be paid by an employer,
within thirty days of completion of the construction project or within thirty days of the
date on which assessment of cess payable is finalized, whichever is earlier, to the cess
collector.
 The amount collected as cess shall be transferred to the Board within thirty days of its
collection.
 A cess at the rate of one per cent of the cost of construction incurred by the employer is to
be levied and collected, vide S.O. 2899, Dated 26th September. 1996

A detailed district-wise cumulative progress report under BOCWA has been shown at Table-I ,
Cumulative Report for DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFITs under BOCWA ACT, 1996 & Rules there under
has been shown at Table-II and Year-wise report has been shown at Table-III

1. Success in the registration of Beneficiariesand Distribution of Benefits in BOCWA

(Building and other construction Workers Act ) Scheme

Past Present Remarks

During 2006-2011, 271870 During the period from April Over six times increase during
persons have been registered 2011 - March, 2013, the tenure of present
during 5 years at an average of 6.52,253 lacs people have government.
45000 / year been registered at an
average of 3.26 lacs / year
Total fund distributed during this Total fund distributed during Nearly forty –six times
period is Rs 1,56, 70, 554 /- for this period is Rs. increase during the tenure of
7584 beneficiaries 46,97,95,093/- for 1,82,708 present government.
beneficiaries

2. Increase in the facilities provided to the Construction Workers

Facilities Past Present (W.e.f 1.4.2012).

Marriage Rs 3000 Rs 6000
Maternity Benefits Rs 5000 Rs 10000
Educational Grant for Rs 10000 Rs 30000
Engineering / Medical /MBA/CA
Students
Surgery Rs 30000 Rs 60000
Grant due to Natural Death Rs 30000 Rs 50000
Grant due to accidental Death Rs 50000 Rs 150000
 Table-I
District-wise cumulative Report under BOCWA as on 31.03.13

Beneficiary
Regn.
Sl. Estt.
Districts Beneficiaries Fees & Amount of Nos. of Amount
No. Regd.
Registered Subscription Estt.Regn. Cess Received Benefit Disbursed
(Rs.) Fees (Rs.) (Rs.) Disbursed (Rs.)
1 Jalpaiguri 32419 5432040 1171 569000 117319182 23763 35789681
2 Coochbehar 16514 3081800 2702 1373500 71452741 3739 7220830
3 Darjeeling 21758 1673285 2100 1050600 539431993 7850 20019239
Uttar
4 Dinajpur 45778 5965340 680 339500 125744613 8289 38070182
Dakshin
5 Dinajpur 16782 2509540 289 129800 52609565 1938 6048141
6 Malda 69290 19256260 1451 761500 118166905 18584 54511350
7 Murshidabad 70448 12397460 282 182000 106919945 9219 30526575
8 Nadia 62946 14814940 498 262500 341949185 18217 36467237
North 24
9 Pgs. 66555 11550730 1480 977500 409522374 11187 32142111
10 Kolkata 4198 1007780 996 983500 1373501112 69 165000
11 South 24 Pgs. 133589 18141400 749 448500 110610425 21624 56180152
12 Howrah 55946 14130000 990 603000 115229112 5923 15493351
13 Hooghly 33457 5477170 1158 639000 96227468 8340 18288784
14 Burdwan 48925 9578058 427 373000 443522706 5615 15616363
15 Birbhum 33914 5710410 344 191000 87551257 8468 11895704
16 Bankura 13011 2718780 236 130000 98690921 3676 9170000
17 Purulia 11717 2290795 177 144400 106685727 2081 9399651
Paschin
18 Medinipur 46946 6859860 159 84500 124812185 18194 39650075
Purba
19 Medinipur 139930 35892628 542 3354950 239908867 13516 48811261

Total 924123 178488276 16431 12597750 4679856283 190292 485465687

Progress Report
Upto 31.03.2012 529946 77969960 14204 7565050 3509106698 39930 102864238
Progress during
2012-13 394177 100518316 2227 5032700 1170749585 150362 382601449
 Table-II
CUMULATIVE REPORT FOR DISTRIBUTION OF BENEFIT
UNDER BOCWA ACT,1996& Rules thereunder
Report Up to 31/3/2013
Sl. Benefit Claimed Amount s Disbursed
Name of the Benefit U/R No. of Beneficiary
No. (Rs.)
01 Accident Benefit 274
Accidental expenses 234 117,000

● Disablement benefit 0 -
02 Death Benefit 275
● Accidental Death 6 850,000

● Normal Death 1133 44,183,000

● Pension Benefit 7
03 276 52,750
● Educational Assistance 279 23399
04 Benefit 91,564,149
● Medical Treatment 280 1924
05 benefit 6,348,372
06 ● Maternity Benefit 281 313 1,172,000
07 Other Welfare Measures 282

● Purchase of Cycle 38588 132,543,990

● Funeral Expenses 921 2,763,000

● Purchase of Tools 116524 196,824,620

● Purchase of Spectacles 6534 3,212,000
● Refund of Subscriptions 363 2,378,806
● Invalid Pension 1 6,000
● Marriage 345 3,450,000

Total 190292 485,465,687

Table-III
Year-wise progress report on BOCWA (Upto March, 2013)
Beneficiary Regn. Fees & Estt. Regd Estt. Cess Collected No. of Amount
Enrolled Subscription Regn. ( Rs.) Benefit disbursed
Collected Fees disbursed (Rs.)
( Rs.) (Rs.)
2005-07 23445 1492 22525815 01 640
2007-08 23197 8911820 3433 230557173 53 201341
2008-09 25384 2895 526703734 151 469988
2009-10 44757 5353040 2447 7565050 717738157 532 2212836
2010-11 155087 18197620 1405 963798935 6847 12785789
2011-12 258076 45507480 2532 1047782884 32346 87193644
2012-13 394177 100518316 2227 5032700 1170749585 150362 382601449
Total 924123 178488276 16431 12597750 4679856283 190292 485465687
 ANNEXURE-A
Enhancement of rate of benefits under BOCWA (ConstructionWorkers) with effect from 1st April, 2012
Names of the Benefits Previous Rate (Rs.) Enhanced Rate (Rs.)
Rule-274 1.Accident Hospitalisation Maximum -5000 Maximum-10000
Disablement Maximum -25000 Maximum -50000
Rule-275 2. Death Normal 30000 50000
Accidental 100000 150000
Rule-276 3.Pension Beneficiary 500 750
Widow/Widower 250 375
Rule-279 4.Education Madhyamik passed & 2000 4000
admitted to H.S.
H.S. passed & admitted to 3000 6000
graduation
Admitted to P.G. 4000 8000
Admitted to Medical/ 15000 30000
Engineering/MBA/CA
Rule-280 5.Medical Treatment of major ailments Maximum-10000 Maximum-20000
Surgery Maximum-30000 Maximum-60000
T.B Maximum- 3000 Maximum-6000
Rule-281 6.1.Maternity (child birth) 3000(Twice) 6000(Twice)
6.2.Miscarriage 2000(Twice) 6000 (Twice)
Rule – 282 7. Marriage Self 5000 10000
----Other Children 5000 10000 (Twice)
Welfare 8.1. Purchase of tools 1000 2000
Measures 8.2. Invalid(Beneficiary)Pension 500 750

 Other welfare measures Existing Rate (Rs.)

 Funeral assistance  3000/-
 Purchase of Cycles  3000/-
 Purchase of spectacles  500/-
 Housing Loan  Upto Rs. 50,000/-
 Refund of subscription with interest on maturity/death/ unwilling to continue membership
Conditions are applicable to avail benefits.