Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed the Labour Department to explore the possibility of providing all registered labourers of Delhi with free bus travel passes, in addition to those who are already availing it. Kejriwal chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing projects of the Labour department. The meeting was also attended by Delhi Labour Minister Raaj Kumar Anand and other senior officials of departments concerned. The CM discussed various schemes and their current situation in the meeting with the officers. The CM has also directed the department to assess the possibility of group life insurance for construction workers, similar to that provided for lawyers. Speaking on the occasion, Kejriwal emphasised that the labour department should make positive and effective use of the funds so that all the registered workers can get full benefit of their policies. As part of the efforts to extend maximum support to the labour force, Kejriwal has urged the department to speed up the registration of workers under various schemes. The registrations of 13.4 lakh workers under Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board will be renewed this month onwards. While assessing tax collection initiatives and the utilisation of resources, the CM directed the officials to address some major issues he had identified. First, that the money collected by the department doesn’t sit there passively and is utilised effectively. Then, he directed the officials to formulate a plan to ensure effective utilisation of department funds within one week. The officials then explained the working of the Delhi Building And Other Construction Workers Act, 1996 and its corresponding Rules. A total of 13.4 lakh workers are registered with the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. These workers will be up for renewal in April. Out of this around 5.36 lakh are present at work in the state at any given point of time. To this the CM said that the definition of a Construction Worker is very vast and plumbers, carpenters and electricians and the like are also covered under the head. He said that if the schemes are publicised properly then almost 25-30 lakh workers will be registered with the board.

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