Punjab to impose cess on construction work from April 1

Hoshiarpur, Jan 29 (UNI) The Punjab government will implement Construction Workers Welfare Board Act framed by the Union government and will impose a cess of 1 per cent on all types of construction work exceeding Rs 10 lakh from April 1.

Disclosed this to meiapersons here today, Principal Secretary, Labour P Ram pointed out that Haryana had already implemented the Act about 10-year back and has been collecting a revenue of more than Rs 250 crore yearly from this cess.

The collected revenue from this cess would be spent on the welfare of labourers engaged in construction activities in Punjab, he added.

For providing health services to poor persons, families living below the poverty line (BPL) would be covered under Family Insurance scheme of Rs 30,000 each from the next financial year, he added. The Punjab Health System Corporation had been assigned to act as a nodal agency to cover all BPL families under this scheme.

Under this scheme, 75 per cent of the premium would be paid by the Central government and the remaining would be provided by the state government. This would enable members of all the BPL families to get themselves medically treated for various ailments.

Regarding complaints pf the functioning of ESI dispensaries, Mr Ram said that he had ordered a survey in this regard. After receiving the survey report , improvements will be made accordingly for providing best possible treatment to the factory workers, he added.

He disclosed that for fixing the new minimum wages for the labourers, a board had been constituted. Its first meeting would be held on February 12.

UNI XC HS VN1928