Only 7.6% of the amount collected by the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act has been used for the welfare of labourers in the state. A question in the assembly revealed that in the two years of 2017 and 2018 (Jan to Dec) the board collected Rs 2333.10 crore by way of cess yet it spent just Rs 177.10 crore for the labourers and workers. Of this Rs 172 crore was for various schemes for the welfare of workers while the rest was for miscellaneous expenses. Of the total spending, the highest was spent on providing food for the labourers under the Shramik Annapurna Yojana. The board spent Rs 38 crore for the scheme while the second highest spending was done to provide educational facilities to the children of labourers. Rs 35 crore was spent towards this endeavour. It also spent an additional Rs 23 crore to provide special coaching for the children of the labourers. A substantial Rs 12 crore was spent on teaching them about safety precautions on the worksite. The other spending included Rs 7 crore towards health and safety, Rs 4 crore towards providing temporary accommodation and Rs2 crore towards providing Anganwadi services to the children of the labourers. Compensation to the labourer's kin who died in accidents was a measly Rs 61 lakh. It should be noted that time and against those who work for the welfare of construction labourers have pointed out that a substantial part of the fund collected by way of cess is used for facilities that hardly reach the labourers while compensation payout for accidental deaths remain a few. AMC YET TO COMPENSATE 23 SAFAI KAMDARS The state government revealed in the assembly that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation was yet to pay 23 of its safai kamdars the Rs 10 lakh by way of compensation. The workers are those who were hired by the AMC to clean gutters and had died after entering the same. The state also said that the compensation was pending because the kin of the deceased was yet to submit the relevant documents. Kin of 16 safai kamdar in Surat Municipal Corporation as also yet to be compensated.

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