Chandigarh, May 13: To mitigate sufferings caused due to loss of livelihood of construction workers amid the Covid restrictions, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced subsistence allowance/cash assistance of Rs.3000 to all construction workers registered with the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board.
Captain Amarinder Singh, who is also the Chairman of the Board, said the subsistence allowance of Rs.3000 would be paid in two instalments of Rs.1500 each, the first one to be released immediately and another by June 15, 2021.
It may be recalled that the Captain Amarinder Singh led state government had similarly extended a helping hand to distressed construction workers last year too, amid the first wave of the pandemic. It had then provided financial assistance to the tune of Rs. 174.31 crore @ Rs.6000 each to 2.91 lakh construction workers registered with the Board.
Notably, the Board has nearly three lakh registered construction workers across the state. The livelihood of these construction workers has been adversely impacted in the wake of various restrictive measures and advisories issued from time to time to combat the current situation arising out of recent spike in Covid cases. The progress of ongoing construction projects at several places has either stopped or temporarily slowed down, thus severely hitting the income and livelihood of such workers.
The Chief Minister said the financial assistance was aimed at bringing some immediate relief to the construction workers in these difficult times.
