: The registration of migrant construction workers working outside Odisha has been initiated by Odisha Building & Other Construction Workers’ Board (OBOCWB) in Telangana.
It may be noted Odisha is the only State in the country to have decided to provide welfare benefits to Odia migrant construction labourers working in other States at par with the workers in Odisha. The process of registration of Odia migrant workers through OBOCWB camps in other States started in January.
A team of OBOCWB led by its chairman Subash Singh had held camps in Telangana from January 2 to 16 to register Odia migrant labourers working there. They visited Rangareddy, Karimnagar and Nalgonda districts of Telangana and registered 1,531 Odia migrant construction workers.
Speaking to newsmen in the city on Tuesday evening, Mr Singh said they have decided to hold similar camps in other States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Kerala to register Odia migrant construction workers. “From the next financial year, we will start registering these migrant workers when they travel outside the State,” he added.
According to him, the Telangana government and the brick kiln owners where the Odia labourers worked were also helpful in getting the workers registered by the OBOCWB as it reduces their liability in the event of injury or death at work place. It may be noted that the OBOCWB has decided to provide all benefits like the death benefit to all registered construction workers from the day of registration. But as per norms of Central government, construction workers are eligible for benefits only after one year of registration.
Pension scheme
According to Mr Singh, the OBOCWB is also planning to launch a pension scheme for construction workers of Odisha very soon. By the end of the current financial year, the OBOCWB is aiming to increase the number of registered construction workers to five lakh. All district collectors and secretaries of different departments have been directed to monitor proper and timely collection of cess meant for the welfare board. It is expected that the cess collection for OBOCWB would be Rs. 40 crore in 2014-15. At present, the OBOCWB has around 700 crore rupees collected as cess from different construction agencies.
Odisha is the only State that has decided to provide welfare benefits to Odia migrant construction labourers working in other States
