Kolkata: The Labour department of the Bengal government is set to introduce a dedicated web portal for its Financial Assistance to the Workers of Locked Out Industries (FAWLOI) scheme, aimed at ensuring faster and more transparent delivery of benefits to industrial workers affected by factory closures.
Sources said that Webel Technology Limited (WTL), a state-owned IT services company, has been entrusted with the development of the portal. The initiative seeks to digitise the FAWLOI scheme, which provides financial assistance to workers whose industrial units have been shut down due to lockouts, closures or abandonment. In the case of tea gardens, the eligibility is set at one month of closure, while for other industries, a minimum period of six months is required. It was learnt that once operational, the portal will offer a streamlined process for beneficiary registration, verification and fund disbursement. It will enable the online submission of self-declarations by workers, inclusion of new units and beneficiaries, deletion of ineligible beneficiaries due to death, superannuation or re-employment and integration with the state’s Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) for direct bank transfers.
The portal will also include features such as database creation and migration of legacy data, AI-based report generation, SSL certification, security audits and hosting at the West Bengal State Data Centre.
According to officials, the new system is expected to improve transparency, minimise delays, and reduce manual intervention in processing claims. It will also enable the Labour department to monitor the distribution of funds more effectively and maintain an up-to-date list of eligible workers across the state.
Pre-bid meetings for the project are scheduled for July 8 with bid submissions open until July 15. Once the development contract is awarded, the web portal is expected to be rolled out within weeks.
This digital transformation marks a significant step by the state government toward leveraging technology to strengthen social security mechanisms for vulnerable industrial workers in Bengal, said an official.