Govt gave Rs 5.8 crore to more than 1.05 lakh construction workers

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Friday said it has disbursed ex-gratia payments of Rs 5,000 each to 1,05,750 construction workers registered under the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board as basic aid during the lockdown when they will not be able to work for a living.

In a statement, the Delhi government said a total of 2,10,684 construction workers will be granted the aid under this scheme. "At present, the Delhi government has disbursed Rs 52.88 crore to 1,05,750 construction workers and in the coming days, more construction workers will be granted this ex-gratia relief," it said.

Food distribution centres have also been set up across schools and construction sites of the city to cater to and fulfil the needs of all daily wage, migrant and construction workers, the government said.

"Approximately, 7,000 food packets have already been distributed in these food distribution centres as of Thursday evening," it said.

A helpline for construction, daily wage and migrant workers is also being set up which, the government said, will be active in the next two-three days.

Interestingly, the Delhi High Court had come down heavily on the Delhi government for not being able to use this corpus last year to help the tens of thousands of migrant workers who were starving and dying on the country's highways.