Death Assistance Scheme (ANBOCWWB)

What is the Death Assistance Scheme of the ANBOCWWB?

Death Assistance Scheme (ANBOCWWB) is the survivor benefit of the A&N Islands Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, the statutory board under the office of the Labour Commissioner and Director of Employment & Training, Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair). The scheme pays a lump sum to the nominees or dependants of a registered construction worker who dies, and: unusually, also provides a smaller amount where an unregistered construction worker dies in an accident.

According to the Labour Department's welfare board page, the scheme reads: "An amount of Rs. 1,00,000/- shall be sanctioned to the nominees or dependants of a beneficiary towards natural death benefit. If the death is due to an accident during the course of employment, the nominee or dependent of the beneficiary may be given Rs. Two Lakh towards death benefit. Rs.50000/- only case of accidental death of non-registered construction workers subject to production of certificate from Tehsildar of concerned area stating that the deceased was a construction worker."

The scheme is often referred to locally as the ANIBOCWWB death benefit. The Board was constituted in 2009 under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1998, with A&N rules framed in 2003 and amended in 2010, 2014 and 2015.

How much does the death benefit pay?

The distinction between natural and accidental death doubles the amount, so the nature of death recorded on the death certificate and in item 7 of Form-K is the single most consequential entry on the form. "Accident during the course of employment" is narrower than "accident": a fall from scaffolding on a site is squarely within it, a road accident on a rest day is not obviously so, and the Board decides on the material placed before it.

The Rs 50,000 provision for unregistered workers is the safety valve. It exists because a large part of the construction workforce in the islands is not on the Board's rolls at any given moment, and it is conditioned on a certificate from the Tehsildar of the area concerned stating that the deceased was a construction worker.

Who is eligible for the ANBOCWWB death benefit?

You can claim if:

• You are the nominee recorded in Form-C under Rule 23(5) by a registered construction worker who has died, or
• You are a dependant or legal heir of such a worker where no nomination was filed, and can produce a legal heir certificate, or
• You are the family of an unregistered construction worker who died in an accident, and can obtain a Tehsildar's certificate that the deceased was a construction worker, in which case the amount is Rs 50,000.
• You can produce the death certificate and state the nature of death.

You are not eligible if:

• The deceased was not a construction worker at all, in which case neither the registered nor the unregistered route applies.
• The deceased was unregistered and died a natural death. The Rs 50,000 provision is confined to accidental death of non-registered workers; there is no published natural-death benefit for the unregistered.
• You are not a nominee, dependant or legal heir — a friend, employer or co-worker cannot claim on the family's behalf.
• The deceased's registration had lapsed and the Board is not satisfied that beneficiary status subsisted.
• A claim for the same death has already been settled to another nominee. Form C records the share of each nominee, and the Board settles against that record.

What does Form-K ask for?

Form-K, the Application for Death Benefit under Rule 30(2), is addressed to the Secretary of the Board and is deliberately short:

1. Name and address of the applicant.
2. Relationship with the worker.
3. Name and address of the worker.
4. Registration number.
5. Age and date of birth.
6. Whether the worker was married.
7. Nature of death, with a copy of the death certificate to be enclosed.
8. Details of documents submitted, including a copy of the nomination or legal heir certificate.
9. Amount of death benefit sought.

The form closes with a declaration that the details are true and the signature and name of the nominee.

Item 9 deserves a moment's thought. The applicant states the amount sought, so a family claiming for an on-site accident should claim Rs 2,00,000 and set out the circumstances, rather than claiming Rs 1,00,000 by default and trying to revise later.

How to apply for ANBOCWWB death assistance

1. Obtain the death certificate from the registering authority. Nothing can be filed without it, and item 7 of Form-K requires a copy to be enclosed.
2. Establish who is entitled to claim. Check whether the deceased filed Form-C, the nomination form under Rule 23(5). If so, the nominee named there applies. If not, apply to the competent authority for a legal heir certificate first.
3. For an unregistered worker who died in an accident, approach the Tehsildar of the area concerned for a certificate stating that the deceased was a construction worker. That certificate is the basis of the Rs 50,000 claim.
4. Download Form-K, the Application for Death Benefit, from labour.and.nic.in, or collect a printed copy from the Labour Commissioner's office.
5. Fill in all nine items, taking particular care with the nature of death at item 7 and the amount sought at item 9, and attach the death certificate and the nomination or legal heir certificate.
6. File the funeral assistance claim at the same time. Funeral assistance of Rs 5,000 is a separate scheme with its own claim form, and filing both together saves the family a second trip.
7. Submit the set addressed to the Secretary, A&N Islands Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), in person or through the Labour Department's field offices, and keep the acknowledgement with the nominee's bank account details on record.

Why filing Form-C during the worker's lifetime matters

Form-C, the nomination form under Rule 23(5), reads: "I nominate the following person / persons as rightful dependants, to receive all the dues from the A&N Islands Building and Other Construction Worker's Welfare Board on my behalf and in the event of my death as rightful heirs to receive all benefits due to me." It records the name and address of each nominee, the relationship with the worker, the age of each nominee and the amount of share given to each.

A worker who files Form-C at the time of registration leaves the family a clean route to the death benefit. A worker who does not leaves them to obtain a legal heir certificate at the worst possible time, which is slower and often contentious where a household has more than one claimant. Filing Form-C costs nothing and takes minutes.

How to register a construction worker with the Board

Registration is applied for in Form-B under Rule 23(1), "Application for Registration as a Beneficiary". The form asks for the worker's name, father's or husband's name, date of birth with attested age proof, permanent and present address, marital status, and the name and address of every employer worked for in the last three months, with the dates of commencement and conclusion and the number of days actually employed.

The Board's note on contractor liability sets out what is needed: submission to the concerned Beneficiary Registration Officer, a registration fee of Rs 20, three passport-size photographs, and attested copies of age and address proof. The certificate of engagement as a construction worker may be signed by the employer or contractor, a trade union President or General Secretary, the Secretary of a Gram Panchayat or of the Port Blair Municipal Council, a Labour Inspector, a Junior Engineer of the department concerned, or a listed panchayat office-bearer. Contractors are separately required to collect and remit the monthly subscription on a quarterly basis to the Board's designated State Bank of India account number 30678637478.

Given the Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 2,00,000 difference between a registered and an unregistered worker's family outcome, registration is the highest-value hour a construction worker in the islands can spend.

How do I check the status of a death benefit claim?

There is no public online tracker. Follow up with the Secretary of the Board at the Labour Commissioner's office, quoting the deceased worker's registration number and the date Form-K was submitted. The Labour Department publishes a list of beneficiaries and a list of dues to beneficiaries on labour.and.nic.in, both worth checking. Where a claim stalls, raise it with the Assistant Labour Commissioner, the officer named in the department's Citizen Charter for matters under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act.

Claims arising from a fatal accident at work may also give rise to a separate statutory claim under the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, which the Citizen Charter shows is disposed of in Form-V with a 45-working-day service standard. That is a different remedy from the Board's death benefit and the two are not mutually exclusive.

Why death benefit claims get rejected or delayed

• No death certificate, or a certificate that does not state the nature of death.
• No nomination and no legal heir certificate, leaving the Board unable to identify the rightful claimant.
• Competing claims from more than one family member where Form-C recorded no shares.
• Accidental-death claim without evidence that the accident occurred during the course of employment, so the claim is settled at the natural-death rate.
• Unregistered worker claim without the Tehsildar's certificate, which is the express condition for the Rs 50,000 amount.
• Registration number missing or wrong on Form-K.
• Bank details of the nominee not furnished, holding up remittance after sanction.

How much has the Board actually paid out?

The Board's published beneficiary list, alongside a status report showing 14,902 registered workers and Rs 64.52 crore of cess collected as on 30 November 2018, records:

Death Benefit is the fourth-largest scheme by count and the fourth-largest by value, with an average settlement of roughly Rs 86,000 per case.

Where do I complain?

• Secretary, A&N Islands Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), the authority to whom Form-K is addressed.
• Assistant Labour Commissioner, the designated officer for BOCW matters in the department's Citizen Charter.
• Labour Commissioner and Director of Employment & Training, Sri Vijaya Puram, the appellate level. The Citizen Charter in force was issued on 7 May 2025 with a next review date of 6 May 2026.

No agent is entitled to a commission for filing or settling a death benefit claim, and the family should not part with the death certificate original to anyone offering to "process" the claim.