Insurance Scheme for the Construction Workers (Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu)

What is the Insurance Scheme for the Construction Workers?

Insurance Scheme for the Construction Workers is a welfare scheme of the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board under the Labour and Employment Department, U.T. Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Under the scheme, beneficiaries registered with the Board are enrolled in the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.

The design is deliberate. Rather than build a bespoke insurance product with its own claims machinery, the Board uses two national covers that already run through the banking system and settle claims through insurers. The Board's role is enrolment: it identifies its registered construction workers and puts them into the two Jan Suraksha covers so that a fatal site accident or a sudden death does not leave the family with nothing.

What the two covers do

According to jansuraksha.gov.in, PMSBY is offered at a premium of Rs 20 a year and PMJJBY at Rs 436 a year, both linked to an individual savings bank account, with the cover year running from 1 June to 31 May and the premium taken by auto-debit. PMSBY is open to account holders aged 18 to 70. PMJJBY entry is open at ages 18 to 50 and the cover is renewable up to age 55.

Construction is among the most accident-prone occupations in the country, and a worker in the Silvassa industrial belt often supports a family several hundred kilometres away. The Rs 2 lakh accident cover is not a large sum against the loss, but it is money that reaches the nominee quickly and without litigation.

Who is eligible for the insurance scheme?

You can be enrolled if:

• You are a registered member of the BOCW Welfare Board of the U.T. Administration of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• You hold an individual savings bank account: both central covers are attached to one.
• You are within the age limits of the underlying cover: 18 to 70 for PMSBY, and 18 to 50 at entry for PMJJBY.

You can register with the Board if:

• You are a resident of the union territory.
• You are a building or other construction worker.
• You are between 18 and 60 years of age.
• You have worked in building or other construction work for at least 90 days during the preceding 12 months.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• You are not a registered beneficiary of the Board.
• You are over 60, since BOCW beneficiary registration in this union territory ends at 60, or over 50 for a fresh PMJJBY enrolment.
• You have no bank account. Open a basic savings account first — a Jan Dhan account is enough.
• Your Board registration has lapsed for non-payment of the prescribed subscription.
• You are employed mainly in a supervisory, managerial or administrative capacity rather than as a building worker.

The Board separately clarifies that workers availing benefits under the ESIC Act, 1948 and the EPF and MP Act, 1952 are not entitled to receive similar benefits under the welfare schemes framed under the BOCW Act, 1996.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the insurance scheme

1. Register as a building or construction worker with the Board. Fill the prescribed registration form, attach photographs, attested age and address proof and the details of the establishment where you work, and pay the fee of not more than Rs 50.
2. Submit the registration application to the officer authorised by the Board at your district Labour and Employment Office, and collect the registration card with your BOCW Registration No.
3. Open or confirm a savings bank account in your own name, with a correct IFSC and an active KYC, because both PMSBY and PMJJBY are debited from and settled into an account.
4. Request the prescribed format for this welfare scheme from the same authorised officer of the Board. There is no separately published numbered form for the insurance scheme.
5. Fill the format, record the nominee's name and relationship, and attach the mandatory documents, self-attested where required.
6. Submit the application to the Member Secretary, BOCW Welfare Board, and keep the acknowledgement.
7. Confirm the enrolment with your bank once it is processed, so that you know the cover is live and which policy year it runs in.

Where do you apply?

• Dadra and Nagar Haveli: Old Circuit House Building, Opposite Bal Bhawan, Silvassa 396230. Phone 0260-2642374. Email labour-dnh@nic.in
• Daman: Vidhyut Bhavan, Kachigam, Daman 396215. Phone 0260-2261059. Email lelidaman@gmail.com
• Diu: Labour and Employment Office, Collectorate, Diu 362520. Phone 02875-252444.

How to check status and how a claim is made

Beneficiary status with the Board is checked on bocwddd.in. Go to Welfare Schemes, open a scheme page for your district, select DNH, Daman or Diu as the location of registration and enter your BOCW Registration No. in the search box.

The insurance claim itself is not made to the Board. When a member dies or is disabled, the nominee approaches the bank branch where the account is held, gives the account details and the policy reference, and files the claim form with the death certificate, or with the disability certificate and accident record in a PMSBY disability claim. The bank forwards the claim to the insurer. Keeping the passbook, the enrolment acknowledgement and the nominee's own identity documents together in one place saves the family weeks at the worst possible time.

Common problems and how to avoid them

• Auto-debit fails because the account balance was short on the renewal date. The cover lapses for that policy year. Keep the small premium amount in the account before 1 June each year, or confirm in writing that the Board is paying it.
• Account dormant or KYC incomplete. A dormant account cannot support an auto-debit or a claim settlement.
• No nominee recorded, or a nominee who has since died. Update the nomination at the bank.
• Enrolled in PMJJBY after 50. Entry is age-restricted; only PMSBY remains available.
• Registration with the Board lapsed, which stops the Board processing any welfare application including this one.
• Two accounts, two enrolments. Both covers pay only once per member, so duplicate premiums are simply lost.

Key dates, cost and grievance route

The Board accepts applications for this welfare scheme through the year, with no fixed last date announced. The underlying central covers, however, run on an annual policy year from 1 June to 31 May, and the premium is normally auto-debited around the start of June, so an enrolment completed early in the year gives a full year of cover.

For grievances about enrolment, contact the Labour and Employment Office of your district, and then the Member Secretary of the BOCW Welfare Board. For a delayed or rejected insurance claim, take it up with the bank branch that holds the account and, if that fails, with the insurer through the grievance route published on jansuraksha.gov.in. No agent may charge a construction worker a fee for enrolment in either cover.

Common reasons for rejection

Most rejections under this scheme happen at the BOCW registration stage, before a worker is ever put forward for PMSBY or PMJJBY enrolment, because the insurance cover cannot be granted to someone who is not a valid Board beneficiary. A few also arise at the insurance enrolment format itself.

• The 90-day work proof does not hold up. The Board asks for evidence of at least 90 days of building or construction work in the preceding 12 months. A letter from a contractor that is undated, unsigned, or does not name the site is routinely rejected. Get the employer or contractor to certify the exact dates and site name, or collect wage slips or muster roll extracts covering the period.
• Age proof and the application age do not match the underlying cover. Registration itself requires the worker to be 18 to 60, but PMJJBY enrolment additionally requires the worker to be under 51 at entry. An applicant who registers with the Board at, say, 58 can still become a BOCW beneficiary but will be enrolled only in PMSBY, not PMJJBY. Submitting a PMJJBY request above the entry age is rejected outright, not held pending.
• Address proof does not establish residence in the union territory. A ration card or utility bill from outside Dadra and Nagar Haveli or Daman and Diu, with no local address to match it, is a common ground for return. Carry a current local address proof, such as a rent agreement or a utility bill in the applicant's own name.
• The registration fee or subscription was not paid, or was paid to the wrong office. The Board's application is not treated as complete until the prescribed fee (not more than Rs 50) is deposited with the authorised officer; a form submitted without the payment receipt attached is sent back.
• Photographs or attestations are missing. The Board's registration form calls for photographs and attested copies of age and address proof; unattested photocopies, or an application with no photograph at all, are among the most frequent clerical rejections and are easy to avoid by having a gazetted officer or the authorised Board officer attest copies before submission.
• Nominee details are incomplete or inconsistent. The insurance enrolment format asks for the nominee's name, relationship and details separately from the bank's own nomination record. If the nominee named to the Board does not match the nominee registered with the bank account, the enrolment can be sent back for correction, since a mismatch would create a dispute at claim stage.
• The applicant is already covered through ESIC or EPF. The Board's welfare schemes, including this insurance scheme, are explicitly not available to a worker who is already drawing similar benefits under the ESIC Act, 1948 or the EPF and MP Act, 1952. An application from such a worker is rejected on that ground alone, and the fix is not procedural: the worker is expected to rely on the ESIC or EPF cover instead.
• The worker's role is supervisory or administrative rather than manual construction work. The Act's definition of a building worker excludes those employed mainly in a supervisory, managerial or administrative capacity, so an application from someone whose actual work is office-based is rejected even if they are employed by a construction establishment.
• The bank account fails KYC or belongs to someone else. Both national covers are attached to an individual savings account in the applicant's own name; a joint account, a closed account, or one that fails the bank's KYC check will not support the enrolment and needs to be corrected before the format is resubmitted.

Where an application is rejected, the applicant is generally free to correct the specific defect noted, either the proof, the fee, the attestation or the account, and resubmit through the same district Labour and Employment Office rather than starting over as a fresh grievance.