States collected Rs 24K crore construction cess, spent Rs 4K crore

NEW DELHI: States collected Rs 24,014.51 crore as construction workers welfare cess till September 30, but spent only Rs 4,255.57 crore out of it, Parliament was informed today.

Under the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act 1996, realty developers are required to pay cess of 1 per cent of the total cost of construction incurred by the employer. The cess is levied for augmenting the resources of the Building and Other Constructions Workers Welfare Board.

States collected Rs 24,014.51 crore as construction workers welfare cess as on September 30 and spent Rs 4,255.57 crore out of it, State Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in a written Reply to Rajya Sabha said.

Concerned over poor implementation of the Act, Dattatreya earlier last month had asked the states to ensure that states advisory committees under the law meet once every three months.

SACs advice states on matters related to administration of legislations that are referred to them.

"It has been noticed that SACs are not meeting regularly on account of which the implementation of the Act has suffered further," the minister had noted.

The Labour Ministry had directed states/UTs to constitute SACs through an order issued on October 23, as they play very important role in the implementation of the Building and Other Construction workers Act 1996 and Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act 1996.

The Supreme Court on various occasions has been expressing serious concern and displeasure with regard to the "poor implementation" of the Act.

The Act provides for regulating the employment and conditions of service of building and other construction workers and also provides for their safety, health and welfare measures and other matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

In a separate reply to the House today, the minister said, "There are 582 vacant posts of doctors, 386 posts of specialists and 4372 posts of Nursing and Para-Medical staff in Employees' State Insurance Corporation Hospitals in the country."

"Filling of vacancies is an ongoing process. Offer of appointment to 84 General Duty Medical Officer (GDMOs) has been issued. Advertisement for recruitment of 450 GDMOs and 286 Specialists have been issued. Release of advertisement for recruitment of Nursing & Para-Medical cadre is at the final stage," the minister added.