A 10-day-long social audit of welfare measures of the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Board in Ajmer district’s Beawar block has revealed irregularities by a vast network of agents and e-mitra centres operating in the region. The agents, who get the applications passed in the Labour Department, allegedly demand huge commissions and block the approvals for eligible labourers.
Public hearing
Construction workers narrated the instances of corruption and harassment in the system and recounted their experiences at a ‘ Jan Sunwai ’ (public hearing) organised in Beawar on Sunday after the conclusion of social audit.
Activists of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and Labour Department’s officers were present at the event.
The construction workers said they were deprived of the benefits of welfare schemes if they did not pay commission to the agents. The applications of labourers applying for various works through e-mitra centres were mostly rejected.
Some of the workers alleged that the Labour Department’s officials had approached them at their homes demanding bribe for approving their applications for children’s scholarships, Shubh Shakti Scheme and social security death benefits for survivors.
The social audit teams met a total of 1,370 families in Beawar block during the exercise and verified 509 applications for registration and 829 applications for various schemes. They found large-scale irregularities in both the categories.
Most Backward Class
The nomadic Gadia Lohar community, categorised as a Most Backward Class in Rajasthan, faces difficulty in getting the benefits of schemes because most of its members do their own work and are unable to get the employer’s certificate.
The community members said their children were unable to go to schools and get scholarships.
Social activists attending the public hearing said the BOCW Board should be made more transparent and efficient and steps be taken to carry its welfare component to the intended beneficiaries with a higher success rate.
Gandhian leader Sudarshan Iyengar said the Gram Sabhas could play an important role in this task.
While MKSS founder Aruna Roy said the government officials should take care of “Mahatma Gandhi’s last man” during his 150th birth anniversary celebrations, Board’s joint secretary Patanjali Bhu assured the gathering that the e-mitra centres charging commissions would be blocked and cases would be registered against them.
He said the Board would conduct social audit in other districts as well.
