'Labour cards valid for year as per rules'
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, November 17 2022: In response to allegations levelled by one Valley and Hill Labour Union that Manipur Building and Under Construction Workers' Welfare Board is withholding the labour cards of beneficiaries, Board chairperson K Saratkumar has termed the accusations as baseless claims, while stating that the cards are valid for 365 days i.e., one year only.

Addressing a press meet held in his office chamber at New Secretariat here on Thursday, K Saratkumar said that it takes more than a day to scrutinise the documents submitted by beneficiaries including Aadhaar mapping, DBT linking, etc.

Thus, it is unfortunate to see such baseless claims being made through the media without being aware or acknowledging the difficulties faced by the Board.

He then refuted the Union s claim that the Board is not cancelling the expired cards, terming it as false.

So far, there are around 1,93,000 construction labourers in possession of the labour cards, some of which are inactive, bogus registration or expired.

The Board is currently in the process of filtering the same.

In addition, the Board is not responsible for notifying beneficiaries to renew their cards every time.

Once the 1-year validity period ends, the beneficiary must renew the card the next day.

If they are unable to do so, they are given another 15-day period for renewal.

However, the Board is often accused of unfairness, when the beneficiaries fail to renew their cards within the time period.

As per the rules, the cards are valid for 365 days and will be rejected after this period, he explained.

Saratkumar continued that the beneficiaries are supposed to receive the benefits of various welfare schemes through DBT via their bank accounts.

The funds cannot be all deposited into a single bank account.

Thus, after all the processes are completed, benefits will be transferred into the bank accounts of beneficiaries by December this year, he said.

Stating that one cannot avail the benefits without a genuine labour card, he remarked that the allegations made against the Board during this screening period is basically interfering with the functioning of the Board, which is only operating as per the rules and provisions of the related Act.

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