A Complete Details of BOCW Renewal

People employed in Building and other Construction works are categorised as unorganised labourers who habituate to working under accident-prone conditions and irregular employment, undefined work durations, and scarcity of definite welfare facilities that make their needs more miserable. In the shortage of appropriate legal provisions, it was challenging to get accurate information about accidents, assign responsibilities to workers & beneficial ways into circulation. A need was anticipated to establish central laws about Labour’s safety and proper organisation of welfare and other aided services. Building and other Construction Workers (Employment & Service bet Regulation) Act 1996 was established regarding workers’ terms and conditions, safety, health and welfare measures. In this blog, our focus is on BOCW Renewal.

The Objective of the BOCW Act

Before starting the BOCW Renewal first, we know about the objective of the BOCW Act the individuals employed in Building and other Construction Works include workers from unorganised sectors associated with the very poor and the oppressed class. To facilitate improvement in their working and provide financial aid under such conditions, the government formulated a board for giving financial assistance to them for their benefit under various schemes.

Who can apply for BOCW Registration?

• Workers can apply for BOCW schemes only after a specific time of being registered with the board.
• The challenge is that when workers become eligible to apply for these schemes, most have already migrated to other locations.
• It makes it hard for them to avail scheme advantages.
• This requirement should be anticipated so that workers can apply for all schemes immediately or with the registration.

Lack of Awareness about BOCW Card & Schemes

• According to the Ministry of Labour & Employment estimates, there are more than one crore workers in Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, of which only 24 lakh have an active BOCW certificate.
• Despite the acclaim for the BOCW Card due to the price transfers provided from the BOCW fund during the lockdown, most of the workers we interact with daily are still unaware of it.
•  For every 30 workers from construction sites in Delhi NCR in December 2020.
• We see that 24 of them did not know about the presence of this document. Besides, among those who knew about it, workers still did not apply for it primarily because they were unaware of the registration process.
• We have also seen that workers are doubtful to pay the government fee (an amount that ranges from INR 20 to INR 105) for the BOCW^[1] card, as they are unaware of the various claim schemes they can avail themselves of once they are registered.
• There is an element of lethargy as many have tried to apply several times and failed because of mistakes in the application form and incorrect/incomplete information in the documents submitted.

Documents Required to Obtain BOCW Renewal

Following are the documents require getting the BOCW Renewal:

• Application should be submitted in triplicate in Form 1.
• Attach a copy of the work order
• Copy of Challan

Note: Without the proper documents with accurate information, BOCW Renewal is impossible.

Complicated claim and BOCW Renewal Procedure

The processes to assist benefits of the BOCW schemes also vary from State to State. For example, in Haryana, and can apply for most assertion schemes after a year of being registered, while one can start using claim schemes two months after being reported. Scheme names, benefits, and document requirements vary for each scheme and State.

Even after registration, workers must provide documents to apply for and benefit from schemes.

This bureaucratic process does not end for workers after registration. They must renew their registration regularly (every one, two, or three years conditional on how much they paid the first time) to restore their entitlements. When their registration expires, workers must reapply with the same documents. From our research, many do not renew their registration.

When can the Registration Certificate be revoked?

If the registering officer determines that an organization’s registration was obtained through misrepresentation or the omission of a material fact, that the provisions of the Act have not been followed in connection with any work that is carried out by the organisation, or for any other reason that the registration has become ineffective or useless and is therefore required to be revoked.

Conclusion

If a worker has registered for the BOCW card before, they should be authorised to BOCW renew their license with a new 90-day certificate from the contractor or self-declaration. They should only have to provide identity documents again if there have been any changes to these documents.

Read our Article:What is the Concept and Calculation of BOCW Cess?