Death Benefit Scheme (APB&OCWWB), Arunachal Pradesh

What is the Death Benefit Scheme of APB&OCWWB?

Death Benefit Scheme is a statutory welfare benefit run by the Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, through the Arunachal Pradesh Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (APB&OCWWB). The scheme pays a one-time cash amount to the recorded nominee of a registered construction worker who dies while the registration is active.

According to the Arunachal Scheme Handbook published on the Government of Arunachal Pradesh website, the state government introduced the benefit for families that "suffer due to economic loss caused by the demise of the bread earner of the house" and whose worker had entered his or her name on the Board's register. Two amounts are notified: Rs 50,000 for a normal death and Rs 1,00,000 for an accidental death.

The Board itself exists under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and is funded from the cess collected on construction cost under the companion BOCW Welfare Cess Act, 1996. That is why the money does not come from the state's general budget and why every benefit is tied to the worker's registration record rather than to a household income test.

Key facts

• Death benefit for natural death: Rs 50,000, paid once.
• Death benefit for accidental death: Rs 1,00,000, paid once.
• Payment goes to the nominee recorded on the registration card, not to whoever applies first.
• Application mode is offline at the district or sub-division registering office of the APB&OCWWB.
• Implementing agency, as listed on myScheme, is the "Registered Office of the District/Sub-Division, APB&OCWWB".

Death Benefit Scheme is one of 12 statutory benefits that the APB&OCWWB circular extends to registered workers and their family members. The others include maternity benefit, funeral assistance, medical assistance, marriage assistance, disability and old-age pension, an advance for house purchase or construction, a tool-purchase loan, education assistance and annual cash awards for children who top their district in the Class X and Class XII examinations.

Who is eligible for the death benefit, and who is not eligible?

A claim can be made when all of the following are true:

• The deceased was a building and other construction worker, someone engaged in construction, alteration, repair, maintenance or demolition work.
• The deceased was registered with the APB&OCWWB as a beneficiary.
• The worker's membership was active at the time of death. A lapsed or cancelled registration ends the entitlement.
• The claimant's name was recorded as nominee or dependant on the worker's registration card before the death. A nomination added later is not accepted.
• The claimant is a permanent resident of Arunachal Pradesh and a family member of the deceased worker.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The deceased was never registered with the Board, or the registration was cancelled or had lapsed at the time of death.
• You are a relative or acquaintance whose name does not appear as nominee or dependant on the registration card.
• The deceased worked in a trade outside the definition of building and other construction work, for example a factory job or an office job.
• The deceased was an employer, contractor or supervisor rather than a worker covered by the BOCW Act.
• You are not a permanent resident of Arunachal Pradesh.

Under Section 12 of the BOCW Act, 1996, a construction worker becomes eligible for registration as a beneficiary if he or she is between 18 and 60 years of age and has worked for not less than 90 days in the preceding twelve months in the district concerned. The single biggest practical filter on this scheme, therefore, is not the death claim itself but whether the worker ever completed that registration and kept it live by paying the periodic subscription that the Board prescribes.

What documents are required for the death benefit claim?

Keep the registration card safe. Because the handbook asks for the original card and not a photocopy, families that have lost the card usually face the longest delays, the registering officer has to trace the entry in the Board's own register before the claim can move.

How to apply for the Death Benefit Scheme in Arunachal Pradesh

Death Benefit Scheme has no online route. The steps below follow the process recorded for the scheme on the national myScheme portal, which lists the mode as offline.

1. Visit the nearest registered office of the district or sub-division APB&OCWWB with all the relevant documents. The Registering Officer of that district or sub-division is the competent authority for the claim.
2. Collect the application form in the prescribed format from the concerned office. The form is not published for download, so it must be obtained in person.
3. Fill the application form completely and attach the original registration card, the death certificate, the bank passbook front page and the residence proof.
4. Submit the completed form with the attachments to the same office and ask for an acknowledgement or a diary number for the claim.
5. Wait for verification. The office verifies the worker's registration status, the nomination entry and the death record. After successful verification, the sanctioned amount is released to the nominee.

If the worker was registered in one district but the family lives in another, apply where the registration was made, because that office holds the register entry the claim is verified against.

How much is paid, and when?

Death Benefit Scheme pays a single lump sum, not an instalment or a pension:

• Rs 50,000 on natural death.
• Rs 1,00,000 on accidental death.

The funeral financial assistance of Rs 1,000 is sanctioned along with the death benefit, so a family claiming a natural-death case receives Rs 51,000 in total when both components are cleared together. The handbook is explicit that funeral assistance is paid "at the time of sanctioning the death benefit amount", which is why the two claims are normally filed on the same visit.

No payment schedule is published by the Board. Release depends on verification at the district office and on the Board's fund position, so families should keep the acknowledgement and follow up with the Registering Officer rather than assume a fixed timeline.

Why death benefit claims get rejected

• Registration was not active at the time of death — the most common cause, usually because the annual subscription lapsed.
• No nominee recorded on the card, or the nominee named in the application is different from the one on the register.
• Original registration card missing, forcing a manual trace of the entry.
• Death certificate not produced, or the name on the certificate does not match the name on the registration card.
• Accidental death claimed without supporting evidence, so the claim is settled at the natural-death rate of Rs 50,000 instead of Rs 1,00,000.
• Bank details wrong or the account inactive, which stops the transfer even after sanction.

Most of these are fixable. A name mismatch is corrected by producing an affidavit or a corrected certificate; a missing card is handled by the Registering Officer from the Board's own record; a wrong account number is corrected by submitting a fresh passbook copy.

How to check the status of your claim

1. Return to the district or sub-division registering office where the application was filed, carrying the acknowledgement or diary number.
2. Ask the Registering Officer whether the claim has been verified, sanctioned or returned for want of a document.
3. If the claim has been sanctioned, confirm the bank account the payment was released to, and check the passbook or account statement.

Because the scheme runs offline, there is no SMS tracker or online status page. Keeping the acknowledgement slip is the only reliable proof that the claim was filed on a particular date.

Where to raise a grievance

• Registering Officer, APB&OCWWB, of the concerned district or sub-division, the first point of contact for every claim under this scheme.
• Secretary, Arunachal Pradesh Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, for claims stuck at the district level.
• Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, which is the nodal department for the Board.

No fee is payable for filing a death benefit claim, and no agent has any role in sanctioning it. If anyone asks for a commission on the Rs 50,000 or Rs 1,00,000 released, report it to the Registering Officer in writing.