Nawanshahr/Banga 25 February- A delegation of National Labour Organization (NLO) led by Convenor Baldev Bharti State Awardee handed over a memorandum to MLA of Banga Assembly Constituency and Chairman of Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation Punjab Dr. Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi for smooth running of the site of Punjab Building and Construction Labour Welfare Board, which has been completely closed for the last 3 weeks.
Baldev Bharti said that due to the complete closure of the website of construction labour registration and welfare schemes for the last 3 weeks, there is great disappointment and anger among the beneficiaries of construction labourers across Punjab. He said that earlier there were many shortcomings in the online portal of the board and its server was down most of the time.
But now due to the complete closure of the website, the work of registration of construction labourers and applying for welfare schemes has come to a complete halt. On the other hand, the 'Punjab Kirti Sahayak' app launched by the Punjab government is also not reliable. Instead of providing relief to the workers, this app has put them in confusion.
Construction workers are breaking their daily work and visiting the Facilitation Centres and are mentally disturbed. Baldev Bharti also said that due to the time-bound condition of the website, many workers are suffering huge financial losses due to non-receipt of applications for registration, renewal and welfare schemes. Due to the closure of the Board's website, many scheduled meetings of the sub-division level screening committees, which approve financial assistance for the applications of welfare schemes, could not be held.
Apart from this, the financial assistance to be approved for welfare schemes has also stopped. Through this memorandum, the NLO has strongly demanded from the Chief Minister-cum-Chairman Punjab Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board Punjab Bhagwant Singh Mann that for the social security and bright future of the construction workers, the Board's website and Punjab Kirti Sahayak App should be operated immediately in a proper manner. Along with this, proper concession period should also be provided in necessary cases during the closure of the website. The memorandum also demanded that the decisions taken by the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board in its meeting held on May 30, 2023 be implemented and the condition of obtaining approval from the Principal Secretary Labour, Government of Punjab for financial assistance of ex-gratia grant in case of death of the beneficiary during the concession period of renewal of beneficiary card be withdrawn immediately.
On this occasion, Dr. Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi assured that appropriate efforts would be made to resolve the demands of the construction workers on priority basis.