New Delhi: Labourers in Delhi will now be able to avail benefits of labour welfare schemes of the government within 72 hours of applying for it, a statement from the Delhi government's Labour Department said on Tuesday after Labour Minister Manish Sisodia had directed officials to ensure the same.
Sisodia had taken over the labour department from Gopal Rai after the latter was tasked with focusing on bringing down pollution levels in the city as Environment Minister. Since then, the Deputy Chief Minister has directed officials to ensure that every single construction worker in Delhi is registered so that they can avail government benefits easily.
"We know a labourer only applies if he or she is needy, and so the government has directed that the amount from welfare schemes such as for their child's education, medical, disability, marriage, or maternity reasons should reach the workers' bank account within 72 hours," Sisodia said.
During the inspection, visits at the eastern and north-eastern sub-labour commissioner's office in Shahdara, Sisodia asked the officials to speed up the application processing timeline so that the workers are able to avail the benefits in time.
Following the visit, Sisodia discussed the reasons for the two-year-old pending cases with the officials who said that the delay in the approval process stemmed from the headquarters. Sisodia then instructed the officials to set up an effortless process to smoothly execute the applications within 72 hours.
The Deputy Chief Minister also added that the execution of all files should be done on a 'first-come, first-serve basis'. He said, "If there are cases wherein a few select files are forwarded or favoured and the rest of the files are stopped in the system, strict action will be taken against the officers engaging in such activities."