Owners of private buildings in rural areas issued notices for payment of labour cess

The state government has tightened the noose around the owners of private buildings who have not paid the labour cess. The Labour Department has sent notices to the owners of private buildings that have come up in rural areas of Kangra district in the past 10 years but have not paid the labour cess.

Sources say that the Labour Department has sent notices for the recovery of labour cess to the owners of private buildings on the orders of the Construction Workers Welfare Board. At a board meeting held on March 12, the Labour Department was told to collect the cess from the owners of private buildings. On the directive of the board, the Labour Department has sent notices to the owners of private buildings to deposit the cess with interest with retrospective effect.

The Buildings and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act was adopted in Himachal in 1996. Under the Act, the Construction Workers Welfare Board was formed and it works under the chairmanship of the Labour Minister.

As per the Act, the state government has imposed a cess of one per cent on all constructions of above Rs 10 lakh value. The sources say that the cess is also not being imposed on private buildings in rural areas. The Labour Department has collected Rs 100 crore as cess under the Act mostly from government buildings or buildings in urban areas but it has not been able to impose the cess on private buildings of more than Rs 10 lakh value in rural areas.

Ravinder Kumar, Director of the state Construction Workers Welfare Board, says that at a board meeting held on March 12, directions were issued to the Labour Department to collect the cess from the owners of big private buildings in rural areas that had come up in the past 10 years but had not deposited the cess.

The board members pointed out that the Construction Workers Welfare Board was providing vehicles to Labour Inspectors but they were not helping in the collection of the cess. The board could carry out welfare activities for construction workers only if the cess was collected from all buildings of more than Rs 10 lakh value coming up in the state, he adds.

He says that though all buildings in the state that had come up in 1996, when the Act was implemented, are liable to pay the labour cess, the board has decided to collect the cess only from big buildings such as schools, shopping malls, hospitals and other commercial buildings that have come up in the past 10 years, he adds.

As per the Buildings and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, construction workers can get a health insurance cover of up to Rs 30,000, accidental death insurance of Rs 70,000, maternity benefit for female workers worth Rs 10,000, pension of Rs 500 per month to those enrolled under the scheme continuously for three years after attaining the age of 60 years. Besides, they can also get interest free loan of Rs 50,000 for the construction of house.

Not helping in collection of charge

• All buildings costing more than Rs 10 lakh liable to pay labour cess of 1 per cent of the construction cost
• Big commercial buildings, which have come up in the past 10 years and have not paid the labour cess being sent notices, says Director of the Construction Workers Welfare Board
• The board members say the Construction Workers Welfare Board was providing vehicles to Labour Inspectors but they were not helping in the collection of the cess

Himachal Tribune