In order to speed up the campaign to register construction workers on a war footing, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday conducted a surprise inspection of the District Labour Office at Pushp Vihar and directed the officers to resolve all the pending issues in the next 24 hours.
Expressing his displeasure over the various flaws found during the inspection, Sisodia said not complying with the instructions given in the past is a serious matter of concern. “The Government will not tolerate any carelessness or excuses when it comes to the welfare of the Delhi workers,” he said.
Sisodia asked the officials to make such a system of registration that ensures no poor labourer is forced to pay bribe to anyone, nor faces any difficulty in travelling to Government offices every day.
“It is estimated that there will be one million construction laborers in Delhi and our priority to register each and every single labourer and ensure they are provided with the benefits of these welfare schemes. To implement it effectively, help of officials of labour department and other departments apart from the officers of the board will also be taken,” he said.
During the surprise inspection, Sisodia directed to issue a show cause notice against the Deputy Secretary who found absent in the office.
Sisodia had taken over the charge of the Labour and Employment Department last week and had directed to complete the registration and verification of construction workers immediately after meeting with the concerned officials.
During the surprise inspection of the South District Construction Board Labuor Office at Pushp Vihar, Sisodia tried to understand the reasons for the delay in the process and the difficulties faced by the workers who were standing in the queues.
Sisodia reached Pushp Vihar Centre at 10.45 am and spoke to the workers standing in queues to check out the process.
“The workers said they reached the office at 4 am and had been queuing since then. The queues included workers such as labourers who had come to file their application for registration, renewal and verification of their documents,” he said.
Sisodia gave strict instructions to the officers that the registration process should be explained in a simple and easy language. He said, “Whichever broker is caught taking bribes, an FIR should be lodged immediately against him.”
The deputy CM also said if any role of the middlemen is found, the responsibility of the officers will be fixed.
During the inspection, several flaws and blocks in the system were unearthed. Sisodia immediately ordered the officials to correct them. He was also surprised to find that not even a single application was processed in the first hour of the office being open to the public.
Sisodia said no negligence will be tolerated in providing benefits of welfare schemes to the city construction workers. In this matter, strict actions will be taken against whoever is found guilty. Additionally, he ordered the registration, verification and renewal process to be fast tracked with immediate effect.
During his conversation with the people present in the queues, Sisodia found out that the workers had to stand in the line for 6-7 hours and it affected their work as they had to come to the office regularly to finish their documentation. On receiving information that the Deputy Secretary was not present in the office for the past two days, Sisodia also instructed to issue a tell notice. He also directed to issue notices against other negligent employees at the office.
Sisodia also expressed his displeasure over the fact that the middlemen collect money from the construction workers in the name of getting them registered with the construction board, which is a failure of the overcomplicated process.
The Deputy CM ordered the officers to themselves be on the ground and verify the documents of the workers standing in the line. He further directed to shift the renewal process online so that the workers do not have to come to the Construction Labor Board Office.