Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired the 22nd meeting of Jammu and Kashmir Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (JKBOCWWB) here at the Civil Secretariat today.
The purpose of the meeting was to make a comprehensive review of the implementation of various welfare measures and to approve major initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life for construction workers and their families in Jammu and Kashmir.
Appreciating the progress made by the board, the Chief Minister appreciated his efforts for more than 2.85 lakh active construction workers in the expansion of welfare coverage.
He outlined the importance of transparent, timely and targeted distribution of profit and officers widening the outreach mechanisms, streamlining application processes, and ensuring that the benefits of the board are not out of taking advantage of the benefits of the board.
The Chief Minister also called for a comprehensive and more inclusive definition of ‘construction worker’ to bring within all the weak and unorganized sector laborers.
He urged the board to find out the policy mechanisms that would maximize coverage and increase financial security for workers in alignment with national best practices and labor welfare standards.
In the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Chaudhary, Additional Chief Secretary Jal Shakti Shaleen Kabra, Additional Chief Secretary of Chief Minister Dheeraj Gupta, Principal Secretary Finance, Principal Secretary PWD (R&B), Principal Secretary PDD, Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Labart, Director General, General Secretary, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General. Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Director General, Dastakkar Sangh.
Senior officials of the Planning Department and other concerned departments also attended the meeting.
Secretary Labor and Employment Kumar Rajiv Ranjan made a detailed presentation, highlighting the major achievements, policy reforms and financial progress of the board.
He informed the members that the Board continues to function as per BOCW Legislative Grands (Regulation of Employment and Service Conditions) Act, 1996. Under this mandate, the board is providing many benefits including pre–graitia relief, financial assistance for permanent and temporary disabilities, and educational assistance for registered workers in cases of casual deaths. It offers marriages and maternity assistance, assistance for chronic diseases, and funeral expenditure coverage, 90% and more than ₹ 50,000 in class 10 and 12, a mirror scholarship of ₹ 50,000.
To ensure transparency and efficiency, the board has implemented significant digital reforms. These include 100% direct profit transfer (DBT) for financial assistance, an online portal for base integration, registration and renewal to eliminate fake registration, and OTP-based certification as well as inform those working with SMS alerts about the major time limit and update.
The board generates income through cess collection and earned interest. Currently, .5 1082.58 crore is currently conducted as a corpus in fixed deposits and savings accounts in various banks.
During the meeting, the board discussed and approved a broad set of agenda items. These included approval of plan-wise budget proposals for the financial years 2024–25 and 2025-26, and transfer of 17.24 crore in the center area of Ladakh, as per 339 October, 2020. Audited accounts for FY 2022223 and 2023-24 were approved.
The meeting also approved the integration of the board initiative with comprehensive social security and financial inclusion schemes to maximize the impact of profit.
In an important step towards digital governance, all registered workers were approved to issue smart cards, which had a proposed budget of ₹ 10 crore.
To improve the security of the workplace, the board specifically approved ₹ 60 crore for the provision of personal safety equipment (PPE) kits and equipment to construction workers in rural areas. Recognizing the need for skill development, the board approved short -term training programs for 10,000 workers under NSDC criteria with a budget of NS 10 crore.
Given the huge response to the meritorious scholarship scheme, it was resolved to revise the structure with slabs for top performing students in all districts on merit basis, maintaining a minimum 90% cutoff. The board also discussed the long pending issue of regularization of employees and directed the concerned committee to finalize the recruitment rules in consultation with the concerned departments within six months.
In his closing comments, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah confirmed the government’s commitment that the welfare benefit reduced every qualified worker.
He stated further reforms, strong monitoring and inclusive policy -making, in line with the needs of construction workers, especially in remote and understanding areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
