Punjab to map construction activity to boost labourcess collection

Eyeing collection of at least Rs 500 crore labourcess per annum, the Punjab government is going to map the construction activity across the state through global positioning system (GPS). The step is aimed to keep a check on defaulter colonisers as well as government agencies shirking from depositing their share of labourcess. Punjab government now collects around Rs 200 crore labourcess per year which is spent for welfare activities of labourers and workers. Since 2009, Punjab government has collected the labourcessamounting to over Rs 1,192 crore and has spent over Rs 653 crore on workers’ welfare. Over 7.46 lakh labourers are registered with the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board. Labour minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said his department was also pursuing the case to carry out the necessary amendments in the rules to get powers to assess the projects outside the municipal limits. “Generally, big projects initially deposit some amount on account of the labourcess. But day-by-day, they extend their project area and do not pay the labourcess for the extended area,” said Sidhu. The principal secretary of the labour department, R Venkat Ratnam, said the state government would tie up with the Union telecommunication ministry’s agency for the online mapping project. “They have promised us that the labourcess would go up from the present Rs 200 crore per annum to at least Rs 500-600 crore per year,” he added. Haryana and Uttarakhand governments have already undertaken such projects with the assistance of the Union telecommunication ministry which had led to increase in their labourcess collection. Venkat Ratnam said not only the private colonisers, but several government agencies like municipal corporations, municipal councils, refineries and airports are not paying the required labourcess. All public as well as private construction projects employing construction labouers have to pay 1% of the total construction cost as labourcess to the state government. The labour minister said the department proposed to start the online mapping project from Mohali and Ludhiana in view of massive construction work in these two cities. The minister also felt the need to carry out the third-party audit of the municipal bodies’ accounts of labourcess by the labour department. Municipal corporations and municipal councils assess and collect the labourcess themselves but there is no third-party audit, said Sidhu. About the need to assess constructions outside municipal limits, which at present do not come under the labour department’s purview, the minister said, “The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) gives change of land use (CLU) permission for such projects and it is now up to GMADA whether it keeps a check after that or not.”