- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: PTI
THE Delhi government has decided to start “Doctor on Wheels” scheme under which routine health check-ups will offered to workers at construction sites, an official statement said on Monday (1).
The city’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government also announced the starting of “mobile creches” where children of construction workers will get better day-care facilities with modern services at the sites.
These two new schemes were announced by Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia after chairing a meeting of the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board on Monday, according to the statement.
Sisodia said the two new schemes will benefit construction workers across the city.
“Doctor on Wheels scheme will facilitate routine check-up of workers at construction sites.
“The (Arvind) Kejriwal government will also launch unique mobile creches for children of construction workers at sites where they will get better day-care facilities with modern services,” the statement quoting Sisodia said.
The deputy chief minister, who also holds the labour portfolio, claimed that despite stalled construction activities due to the Covid pandemic and pollution, the AAP government supported construction workers by providing more than Rs 600 crores in aid. “The Kejriwal government is running 17 welfare schemes for construction workers and financial assistance of Rs 13 crore was given to construction workers last year,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Delhi government had introduced a facility of free bus passes in DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) buses for construction workers. In the meeting, officials informed the minister that at present more than 17 lakh (1.7 million) applications have been received by the board for getting the labour card, according to the statement.
In order to ensure that only the eligible people get its benefit, the deputy chief minister directed the officers to get the social audit done by an independent agency. For this, a two-member panel will be formed which will send its proposal to the board for audit and it will be done accordingly, the statement said.
It also said the Delhi government will upgrade the website of its Construction Labour Welfare Board to provide better and easier access to beneficiaries.
The statement said the Kejriwal government also provides financial assistance for education of children of construction workers and had distributed Rs 12.35 crore (£1.2 million) to 16,000 students so far.
Under this scheme, the government provides annual scholarships worth Rs 6,000 (£62) to students of classes 1-8, Rs 8,400 (£87) to students of classes 9-10 and Rs 12,000 (£124) to students of classes 11-12, it said.
“Under this scholarship, Rs 4.8 crore (£495,120) have been distributed to 8,062 children of class 6-8, Rs 4.1 crore (£422,915) to 4,888 children of class 9 and 10 and Rs 3.4 crore (£350,710) to 2,841 children of class 11-12,” the statement added.
