"Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh did not release a rupee for construction workers during lockdown", 23 June 2020

Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are the three states that did not release a penny for construction workers during the lockdown from the Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund.

Among the union territories Puducherry, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli also did not give any cash relief to construction workers.

According to figures released by the Union labour and employment ministry Tuesday, until 16 June, 30 states and union territories have disbursed cash assistance to the tune of Rs 4,957 crore to approximately two crore construction workers across India from the fund, which has a total corpus of Rs 31,000 crore.

States can provide cash benefits ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,000 per worker from the fund. Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh gave Rs 1,000 to construction workers while Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu gave Rs 2,000 per worker. Only a handful of states and UT’s gave cash ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000 per worker. While Punjab, Goa and Chandigarh gave Rs 6,000 per worker, Delhi, Karnataka and Haryana gave Rs 5,000 per worker.

The Building and Construction Workers Welfare fund is raised by state governments by levying a cess of 1% of construction cost and is part of the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, which regulates the employment and working condition of construction workers and provides for their safety and welfare measures...