Construction workers to get welfare schemes' benefits through DBT: Delhi LG

Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena has approved 17 welfare schemes, including disability pension and medical assistance, for registered construction workers of the national capital, officials said on Saturday.

The benefits under the schemes would be provided by direct benefit transfer (DBT) after Aadhar-based authentication of the beneficiaries registered with Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board (DBOCWWB), they said.

Saxena has directed strict monitoring of disbursement process to ensure that benefits are given only to the genuine beneficiaries and there are no leakages, officials at LG office said.

"The move aims at minimising leakages as in recent times, there were several instances of financial irregularities by providing benefits to ghost construction workers that are being probed by the Anti Corruption Branch," they said.

The LG has approved the notification of 17 welfare schemes of the DBOCWWB with specific directions for constant supervision and monitoring of the disbursement under these schemes, officials said.

The financial benefits under schemes of disability pension, ex-gratia payment, medical assistance, maternity benefit, compensation after death, among others will only be given through DBT after Aadhar-based authentication of the beneficiaries, they said.

The LG has underlined the need for making the registration of construction workers fully transparent and fool-proof so that only genuine construction workers benefit from the funds of the Board.

For this purpose, the deputy labour commissioners at the districts may be made responsible for a transparent and efficient implementation of the benefit transfer to the entitled and genuine beneficiaries only and a stringent exercise for establishing the veracity of the registration process and the registered beneficiaries be undertaken concurrently, the LG noted.

The development comes in wake of the instances of "financial irregularities" in the functioning of the DBOCWWB and "leakages" in the distribution of benefits under its various schemes, added the officials.