Punjab labour department has made Aadhaar card and self declaration form compulsory for the labourers at the time of registration to avail benefits under Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Board schemes.The move is aimed to check duplicity and prevent dual distribution of benefits among beneficiaries. As per the directions, the labour commissioners have been asked to mention Aadhaar card details of the beneficiary and family members along with a self-declaration form mentioning that other family members of the beneficiary will not take benefits of labour schemes after him. The move came after some complaints of dual benefits under various schemes were availed by many persons of a single family. BOOSTING WORKERS’ REGISTRATIONConcerning low registration of workers with board, labour department has also asked its officials to paste a list of all the registering labour officers with their name, contact number at the notice board of labour department. Labour department has also faced wrath of the Punjab and Haryana high court in past due to its slow utilisation of welfare funds.

Source: Hindustan Times February 28, 2017 09:22 UTC