Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana (Arunachal Pradesh)

What is Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana?

Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana is a labour welfare package of the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, announced by Chief Minister Pema Khandu on 18 September 2023 at a function in Itanagar. The scheme is administered through the Department of Labour and Employment and delivered by the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (APB&OCWWB).

Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana is best understood as a revision of the rates the Welfare Board already paid, not as a new registration scheme with a new membership list. The Board was already constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and already ran maternity, death, funeral and marriage benefits for its registered members. What the Chief Minister announced was that those benefits, several of which had stood at token levels for years, were being raised sharply, and that new incentives were being added for the children of registered workers.

The single most important consequence for a worker is this: the benefits flow only to workers who are registered with the Welfare Board. A construction worker in Arunachal Pradesh who has never registered gets nothing from Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana, however many years they have worked on site. Registration, and keeping that registration live, is the entire gateway.

What benefits does Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana provide?

Enhanced core benefits

The maternity assistance is a sixfold increase, and the two death compensations are a fourfold increase each. For a family that loses its earning member to a site accident, the difference between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 4 lakh is the difference between a funeral and a year of survival.

Sports incentives for workers' children

Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana also introduced cash awards for the children of registered construction workers who win medals in competitive sport:

These incentives are paid on production of a participation and placement certificate from the organising body, and they are additional to any prize money the sports federation itself pays.

The Welfare Board's other long-standing benefits: funeral assistance, marriage gift assistance and education support: continue to run alongside these, and are claimed through the same district Labour office.

Who is eligible for Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana?

You can claim under the scheme if:

• You are a building or other construction worker in Arunachal Pradesh, mason, carpenter, bar bender, painter, plumber, electrician, helper, road or bridge worker and similar trades.
• You are registered with the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, and your registration is live, with contributions and renewals up to date.
• You have completed the minimum period of construction work the Board requires for registration: conventionally at least 90 days in the preceding twelve months, certified by your employer or contractor.
• You are within the Board's age range for membership, conventionally 18 to 60 years at the time of registration.
• For family-linked benefits, the maternity benefit, death compensation and the sports incentive. You are the registered worker, or the spouse, nominee, dependant or child of one.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are not registered with the Welfare Board. This is the absolute bar. An unregistered worker must register first, and registration does not retrospectively cover an event that has already happened.
• Your registration has lapsed because renewal or contributions were not paid. A lapsed card is treated as no card at claim time.
• You are not a construction worker — the Board covers building and other construction work as defined under the 1996 Act, and workers in other trades fall outside it.
• You are an employer, contractor or site supervisor rather than a worker engaged in construction work.
• You already received the same benefit for the same event. The benefits are per event, and a second maternity claim for the same delivery, or a second death claim on the same worker, is rejected.
• The event occurred before you registered with the Board.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana

Claims are filed offline at the district or sub-divisional Labour office. There is no fee for the form or for filing.

1. Register with the Welfare Board first, if you have not already. Go to your district or sub-divisional Labour office with Aadhaar, a passport photograph, a bank passbook and a certificate from your employer or contractor showing at least 90 days of construction work in the past twelve months. Pay the small registration and contribution amount the Board prescribes and collect your registration card.
2. Keep the registration live. Renew on time and keep the contribution up to date. Most rejected claims in this scheme fail on a lapsed card, not on the merits.
3. Collect the correct claim form. Ask the district Labour office for the form for the specific benefit, maternity, natural death, accidental death or sports incentive. They are separate forms with separate document lists.
4. Attach the event-specific proof. A delivery certificate for maternity; a death certificate for a death claim; a death certificate plus post-mortem report and FIR or police report for an accidental death; a participation and placement certificate for a sports incentive.
5. Attach the common documents, registration card copy, Aadhaar and bank passbook copy, and submit the file at the district or sub-divisional Labour office.
6. Ask for an acknowledgement or diary number at the counter. Note it down; it is the only practical way to follow a claim up.
7. Follow up with the Labour Officer after a few weeks. Once sanctioned, the amount is credited to the bank account given in the claim.

File death claims promptly. The Welfare Board expects a claim reasonably soon after the event, and a claim filed years later is much harder to sanction because the site record and the employer certificate become impossible to reconstruct.

How to check the status of a claim

Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana has no published online claim tracker. Status is checked in two places:

1. The district or sub-divisional Labour office where the claim was filed, quoting the acknowledgement or diary number.
2. Your bank passbook or statement, for the sanctioned amount to appear as a credit once approved.

If a sanction has been passed but no money has arrived, check the bank details in the claim file first. A wrong IFSC or a dormant account is the most common reason a sanctioned amount does not land.

Why claims get rejected

• Registration lapsed or contributions unpaid. By far the commonest reason.
• Never registered with the Welfare Board, so no claim exists to consider.
• Event predates registration. Registering after a delivery or a death does not create a claim for it.
• Name mismatch between the registration card, Aadhaar and the bank account.
• Accidental death claimed without a post-mortem report or police report, so the Board can only treat it as a natural death at the lower rate.
• No employer or contractor certificate for the 90 days of construction work, at registration stage.
• Duplicate claim for an event already paid.

Most of these are fixable. A lapsed registration can be revived at the district Labour office, a name mismatch can be corrected at source, and a missing police report can usually be obtained from the station that recorded the incident.

Key dates

• 18 September 2023; Chief Minister Pema Khandu announces the rollout of Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana at a function in Itanagar, with maternity assistance raised to Rs 6,000, natural death compensation to Rs 2 lakh, accidental death compensation to Rs 4 lakh, and the sports incentives introduced.

Where to raise a grievance

1. District Labour Officer or the sub-divisional Labour office where the claim was filed, the first stop for registration, renewal and claim issues.
2. Deputy Commissioner of the district, where the Labour office does not resolve the matter.
3. Department of Labour and Employment, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar, and the Secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, for appeals and policy questions.

Registration and every claim under Mukhya Mantri Shramik Kalyan Yojana are free. No contractor, agent or official may charge a commission on a maternity payment, a death compensation or a sports incentive, and no genuine official will ask for your OTP or hold your registration card as security.