Release pending benefits: Construction workers to Govt
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, November 15 2022: Pointing out that benefits/assistance which should be given by the Labour Department's Manipur Building Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board (MBOCWWB) to construction workers have not been released since 2017, the Valley and Hill Labour Unions Group (VHLUG) has urged the State Government to release the pending benefits at the earliest.

Speaking to media persons at Manipur Press Club here this afternoon, VHLUG convenor Th Sakhi said that MBOCWWB had been delivering several benefits to registered workers after its establishment in 2010.Earlier the benefits were distributed in the form of cash before it was replaced by the DBT system, Sakhi said.

The registered workers got their benefits till 2016 but no benefit or assistance was given after 2016, she said.

MBOCWWB was providing several benefits to registered workers like monetary assistance for schooling of their children, monetary aid for treatment of beneficiaries, financial aid to the families of registered workers in the event of his/ her death, maternity and health benefit, health insurance, skill development training and housing loan.

The registered workers have been denied all these benefits and assistance since 2017.Even application forms were not issued from 2018 onward, she said.

While financial aid towards children's education were held back for protracted periods, the pension scheme has not been implemented yet, the VHLUG convenor said.

Many families of expired workers are still denied all the benefits entitled to them, she continued.

Even though bicycles and sewing machines were distributed earlier, a large number of workers registered at MBOCWWB were left out, Sakhi said.

She also expressed strong suspicion that the bicycles and sewing machines were given to those who were favoured by MLAs and Ministers.

She then appealed to the authorities concerned to release all the pending benefits within the current month and roll back the decision of not issuing application forms of several schemes.

Meanwhile, a notification issued by the MBOCWWB recently informed that workers who have not been paying their renewal fees (Rs 120 per annum) would be deleted from the board's register.

Sakhi asked as to why the board was demanding renewal fees only now after keeping all the workers away from their due benefits for the past 4/5 years.

The VHLUG convenor pointed out that whatever benefit/aid provided to workers is given out of the labour cess deducted under relevant Acts, not from the pockets of Government officials.

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