The State Government has decided to hike the limit of housing loan provided to workers engaged in construction activities from existing Rs 50000 to 1 lakh. This decision was taken in the meeting of Construction workers welfare board at Vidhan Sabha auditorium on Monday.
The meeting was chaired by Forest, labour and Ayush Minister Harak Singh Rawat. In the meeting it was also decided to increase the monthly pension of these workers from Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 per month. Similarly the disability pension of workers was also increased.
It was also decided that the share of the beneficiary for construction of toilets under the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan of any construction worker would be borne by the board. The board would also pay 50 percent of the fees of the children of these workers who are undergoing medical, paramedical and nursing training.
Similarly a monthly payment of Rs 5000 and Rs 1000 respectively would be made for the children selected to play in State level and national sporting event. For selection in State level Maharana Pratap Sports College a monthly stipend of Rs 2500 and for selection in National Sports College Patiala a stipend of Rs 10000 per month would be paid.
All the construction workers registered under Workman Act of 1966 would be provided these benefits. There are about 2.06 lakh such workers in the State who are working in construction related activities like Government buildings, roads, MNREGA, irrigation canals, hydro power projects, all weather roads, Public Works Department (PWD) and others.
The workers who work for 90 days in a year are eligible for registration under this act and 1 percent of total project costs is provided to the welfare board. The meeting was also attended by secretary in-charge, Harvansh Singh Chug. Additional finance secretary Arjun Singh, Additional Secretary legal Mahesh Kaushiba, labour commissioner Anand Srivastava and members of board Man Singh, Vijay Nagar, Shashi Bala and Shailesh Gusain.