Advance for Purchase or Construction of House (APB&OCWWB)

What is the Advance for Purchase or Construction of House in Arunachal Pradesh?

Advance for Purchase or Construction of House is a welfare benefit run by the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, through the Arunachal Pradesh Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, usually written as APB&OCWWB. According to the scheme description published by the Department, the Board can sanction or grant an amount for the outright purchase of a house, or for the construction of a house, to eligible building and construction workers registered with it.

The benefit amount is Rs 1.00 lakh in cash assistance. The scheme exists because construction workers spend their working lives building homes for other people while living in rented rooms, labour camps or temporary shelters at the worksite. A one-time advance of this size does not buy a house on its own in Itanagar or Naharlagun, but it closes the gap on a small self-built house in a worker's home village, or covers the margin money a bank or the district housing authority asks for.

APB&OCWWB itself was constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and the companion Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996. The Board's money does not come from the general state budget. It comes from a cess levied on the cost of construction of building projects in the state, collected by assessing officers and cess collectors appointed at the district level. That is why every benefit the Board pays. This housing advance included: is restricted to workers who are formally registered as beneficiaries with the Board.

Who is eligible for the APB&OCWWB housing advance?

You can claim the advance if:

• You are a permanent resident of Arunachal Pradesh.
• You are employed in building and other construction work — masonry, carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, road and bridge work, earthwork, painting, welding, stone cutting and the other trades listed in the BOCW Act,

• You are registered with the APB&OCWWB as a beneficiary and hold a valid registration card.
• You have been an active registered worker for at least 5 years.
• You have at least 15 years of service left before retirement.
• You can show the capacity to repay the advance with interest.

You are not eligible if:

• You work in construction but have never registered with the Board. An unregistered worker cannot apply for any Board scheme, however genuine the need.
• Your registration has lapsed because contributions were not paid or the card was not renewed. The condition is active membership, not merely a card that was once issued.
• You have completed less than 5 years of Board membership.
• You are close to retirement and cannot meet the 15-years-of-service-left condition.
• You are a supervisory or managerial employee or draw wages in a capacity that takes you outside the definition of a building worker under the BOCW Act. The Act's own definition excludes persons employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity.

Registration with the Board, under the BOCW Act framework, is open to workers between 18 and 60 years of age who have worked for at least 90 days in a building or other construction establishment in the preceding twelve months. Those are the statutory conditions for becoming a beneficiary in the first place; the 5-year membership requirement above sits on top of them.

What documents are required?

Keep a photocopy set and the originals together. District offices verify originals across the counter and return them; they retain the attested copies with the file.

How to apply for the APB&OCWWB housing advance

The scheme is offline only. There is no self-service online application form for this benefit.

1. Visit the Registering Officer, APB&OCWWB, in your district. The Board works through district-level Registering Officers who are usually officers of the Labour and Employment Department. Carry your registration card.
2. Ask for the prescribed application form for the Advance for Purchase or Construction of House and fill it in completely. Do not leave the purpose column blank; state whether the advance is for purchase or for construction.
3. Attach the supporting documents listed above: identity proof, a copy of the registration card, the construction plan or purchase agreement, wage records, the deed or affidavit, bank passbook copy and photographs.
4. Submit the completed file to the Registering Officer and take an acknowledgement with a date and diary number on it.
5. Wait for verification and sanction. The office verifies your membership record, the length of active membership and the documents relating to the house. On sanction, the assistance is released to the bank account you declared.

If you are not yet registered with the Board, the same office handles registration. Registration requires proof of at least 90 days of construction work in the preceding year, usually certified by the employer or contractor, and payment of the prescribed contribution.

How do I check the status of my application?

APB&OCWWB does not publish an online application-tracking facility for this scheme. Follow up in person or by phone with the Registering Officer's office in your district, quoting the diary number on your acknowledgement. Because the Board's district offices handle a limited number of housing advance files each year, a written follow-up letter attached to the original file is more effective than repeated phone calls.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix it

• Membership under 5 years. The most common reason. There is no way around it except to keep the registration active and re-apply once the 5 years are complete.
• Registration lapsed. Renew and pay the pending contribution first; a revived membership is what the office needs to see on file.
• No proof of construction or purchase. An application with no building plan, estimate or sale agreement gives the Board nothing to sanction against. Get the plan or agreement ready before you apply.
• No repayment capacity shown. Wage records or an employer certificate showing regular earnings from construction work address this.
• Bank account not in the worker's own name. Funds are released to the beneficiary's account. A joint account in a relative's name causes the file to be returned.
• Fewer than 15 years of service left. Older workers close to 60 should look instead at the Board's Old Age Pension Scheme, which is designed for them.

Which other APB&OCWWB schemes can a registered worker claim?

Registration with the Board opens more than one door. The Department of Labour and Employment also runs a Medical Assistance scheme, a Cash Award for the education of workers' children, and an Old Age Pension Scheme paying Rs 500 a month to registered workers aged 60 and above with at least one year of membership. A worker who registers early therefore builds an entitlement across the whole working life, not just to a one-time housing advance.

Where to raise a complaint

Grievances about a delayed or rejected application go first to the Registering Officer who received the file, and then to the Labour Commissioner, Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, at Itanagar. The Department's website at labour.arunachal.gov.in publishes current office addresses and contact details. Registration with the Board and application for its benefits are free; no agent or middleman is authorised to charge a fee for getting a worker's name onto the beneficiary list.