Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana — Housing Assistance for Bihar Construction Workers

Is there a Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana in Bihar?

Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana is the name construction workers in Bihar use when they ask about housing help from the labour board, and it is worth being exact about what exists. As of August 2026 the Bihar Building & Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (BBOCWWB) lists 17 active schemes on its official portal, bocwboard.bihar.gov.in. The only housing benefit among them is the Grant for the Repair of House: in Hindi भवन मरम्मति अनुदान योजना, of up to Rs 20,000, once in a lifetime. There is no separate pucca-house construction grant open for online application on the board's current list.

The distinction matters because the two are often confused. A worker who wants money to build a pucca house is looking at the general housing programmes, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin in villages, applied for through the panchayat, or PMAY Urban in towns. A worker who wants money to repair the house he already has is looking at this board scheme, and being registered with the board is what makes him eligible.

The board's own note under the repair grant refers to workers who "have previously received benefit under building construction / bicycle & tools scheme", which indicates a building-construction benefit has existed in the board's rules. Since it is not among the schemes currently open for application, a worker who believes he qualifies under an older sanction should raise it with the Labour Enforcement Officer of his area rather than assume it can be claimed on the portal today.

What is the Grant for the Repair of House?

Grant for the Repair of House is a welfare benefit of the Bihar BOCW Board, a statutory board constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, working under the Labour Resources and Migrant Workers Welfare Department, Government of Bihar.

According to the scheme details published by the board, the benefit is a maximum of Rs 20,000, only once, and the eligibility condition is a minimum of 3 years of membership. The board adds two notes: workers who have previously received benefit under the building construction, bicycle or tools schemes are not eligible, and the application must be submitted online within 6 months of the repair.

The money comes from the cess collected on construction projects in Bihar under the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996, which is why only registered workers may draw on it.

Main features

• Up to Rs 20,000, paid once in a lifetime.
• 3 years of board membership is the minimum.
• Six-month claim window from completion of the repair.
• Excluded if the worker has already taken the building construction, bicycle or tools benefit.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer to the worker's own bank account.

Who is eligible for the housing repair grant?

You can claim if:

• You are registered with the Bihar BOCW Board and your labour card is live, with the annual worker contribution paid.
• Your membership is at least 3 years old on the date of the claim, counted from registration. Lapsed years break the count.
• The house repaired is your own, and you can show a holding receipt, land record or a panchayat certificate to that effect.
• You completed the repair within the last 6 months and hold dated bills for material and labour.
• You have a bank account in your own name that is Aadhaar-seeded.

You are not eligible and cannot claim if:

• You are not registered with the board, or the card has lapsed. Registration cannot be backdated to cover a repair already done.
• Your membership is under 3 years.
• You have already received benefit under the building construction, bicycle or tools scheme of the board. This exclusion is stated in the board's own note and is the condition that surprises most applicants. A worker who took the Rs 15,000 toolkit grant or the Rs 3,500 bicycle grant loses this Rs 20,000.
• You have already drawn this repair grant once. It is a once-in-a-lifetime benefit.
• You filed more than 6 months after the repair.
• You are an employer or contractor rather than a worker engaged in building or other construction work.
• The house is not yours — a rented room or a family house held in another person's name will not support the claim.

How much does the grant pay?

The ceiling is Rs 20,000 and the wording is "maximum ₹20,000, only once". Like the board's other asset-linked benefits it is settled against evidence of actual spending, so a repair costing Rs 12,000 is unlikely to yield the full ceiling.

For context on where this sits in the board's package: the bicycle grant is the lesser of Rs 3,500 or the bill, the tools grant is up to Rs 15,000, the marriage assistance is Rs 50,000, and death benefit is Rs 2,00,000 for natural death and Rs 4,00,000 for accidental death. The repair grant is the largest of the asset grants, and it carries the longest membership requirement: three years against one year for the bicycle and tools.

Because the board treats building construction, bicycle, tools and house repair as a mutually excluding set, a registered worker should decide deliberately which one to use. Taking a Rs 3,500 bicycle grant early can cost the Rs 20,000 repair grant later.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the house repair grant

1. Check your membership first. Log in at bocwboard.bihar.gov.in and confirm your registration is at least 3 years old and the contribution is paid. Renew on bocwscheme.bihar.gov.in if the card has lapsed, and note that renewal does not restore lost years.
2. Do the repair and keep the paperwork; dated bills for cement, bricks, sheets and labour, plus photographs before and after. The six-month window starts when the repair is complete.
3. Log in to the worker portal on bocwboard.bihar.gov.in with your registration number and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number.
4. Open the Schemes list and select Grant for the Repair of House (भवन मरम्मति अनुदान योजना).
5. Fill the claim form, declaring that you have not previously taken the building construction, bicycle or tools benefit.
6. Upload the bills, photographs, proof of ownership, Aadhaar, bank passbook page and photograph.
7. Submit and save the application reference number.
8. The Labour Enforcement Officer verifies the membership, the ownership and the repair, after which the board sanctions the grant and it is credited by DBT.

Workers without internet access should take the same papers to the District Labour Office or the Labour Enforcement Officer's office and ask for the claim to be entered on the portal. A Common Service Centre can do the data entry; its fee is private, since the board charges nothing for a scheme claim.

How to check the status of a repair grant claim

1. Log in to bocwboard.bihar.gov.in and open the scheme application status section.
2. Read the stage shown against your reference number, pending, sanctioned or rejected.
3. Follow up with the Labour Enforcement Officer if the file has not moved for several weeks.
4. Call the board's toll-free number 1800-296-5656 with your registration number.
5. Check your bank passbook for the credit after sanction.

Why housing claims from construction workers get rejected

• Membership under 3 years, or a card that lapsed in between and broke the count.
• Earlier benefit under the bicycle, tools or building construction scheme, the exclusion written into the board's note.
• Claim filed after 6 months from completion of the repair.
• No proof of ownership of the repaired house.
• Undated or informal bills that cannot be tied to the applicant or to the claim period.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or a joint account, so the DBT credit bounces.
• Applying for a house construction grant that is not among the schemes currently open, which the office records as not admissible rather than rejected.

Where to get help

• Toll-free helpline of the Bihar BOCW Board: 1800-296-5656
• Email: bocw.bihar@gov.in
• Board office: C Wing, Fourth Floor, Niyojan Bhawan, near Income Tax Golambar, Patna 800001
• Labour Enforcement Officer of your area, for verification and first-level grievance
• District Labour Office, for escalation
• Panchayat or urban local body, if what you actually need is a full house under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana rather than a repair grant

If a scheme with the exact name Nirman Shramik Pucca Ghar Yojana is announced or revived by the board, it will appear on the scheme list at bocwboard.bihar.gov.in. Until then, treat the Rs 20,000 repair grant as the board's housing benefit and the Awas Yojana route as the way to a new pucca house.