Building construction welfare fund in shambles; 542 crore loss in cess collection

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board, which is responsible for providing benefits including pension to workers above sixty, does not have accurate information about the workers. Cess on buildings is not being collected on time. There is no system to identify and provide benefits to those who are eligible, says the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. The report blamed mismanagement for a shortfall of Rs 542.17 crore in cess collection. The report was submitted to the Assembly yesterday.

As of March 2023, only 10113 establishments have been registered in the Labor Commissionerate Automation System Registration Portal. The Advanced Information Interface System for Beneficiaries database system was not fully utilized. Out of an average of 7312 buildings under each local body for which cess is to be determined, details of only 4294 are available. Of these, only 679 have been included in the database. Of these, cess has been determined for only 282 buildings. There has been a delay of about five years. Due to this, cess has been collected from only 126446 buildings out of 282998 buildings for which cess was to be collected. There was a loss of Rs. 542.17 crore.

There is no list of beneficiaries or other documents for providing pension, marriage financial assistance, medical assistance, maternity benefits, posthumous assistance, scholarships, and cash awards. The system is to provide assistance on request from the district offices. It was also found that there was widespread irregularity in the distribution of benefits during the Covid period.