Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme

What is the Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme?

Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme is a last-mile outreach programme of the Labour Department, Government of NCT of Delhi, run alongside the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (DBOCWWB). The Delhi government launched the scheme on 9 November 2021 after finding that a large share of the roughly 6 lakh construction workers registered with the board were not claiming benefits they were already entitled to.

Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme places about 800 Shramik Mitras across the city, with three to four in every ward. A Shramik Mitra is a trained field volunteer whose job is to walk into construction sites, labour chowks and worker settlements, find registered and unregistered construction workers, explain in plain Hindi what the board offers, and physically help fill and file the claim forms. The transliterated name Shramik Mitra simply means "friend of the worker", and that is a fair description of the role.

The scheme fixes a delivery problem, not a funding problem. The money for construction worker welfare in Delhi comes from a 1 per cent cess collected on the cost of construction under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. That fund exists and is large. What was missing was a person who could reach an illiterate or semi-literate worker on a scaffolding and tell them that their daughter's marriage carries Rs 51,000 of assistance.

What Shramik Mitras actually do

• Identify construction workers ward by ward and check whether they hold a valid DBOCWWB registration card.
• Help unregistered workers gather the 90-day work certificate and file a fresh registration.
• Remind registered workers to pay the annual subscription so their card does not lapse.
• Fill and submit claim forms for pension, disability, death, maternity, marriage, education, medical and tool benefits.
• Follow up on pending claims and report bottlenecks to the board.

Who is covered by the Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme?

You can be helped by a Shramik Mitra if:

• You work in Delhi in building or other construction work: masonry, bar bending, carpentry, plumbing, painting, welding, stone cutting, road work, earthwork, electrical fitting on sites, and similar trades.
• You are aged 18 to 60, the age band for DBOCWWB registration.
• You have worked at least 90 days in construction in the preceding 12 months, which is the board's core qualifying test.
• You already hold a board registration card, or you are eligible to get one.

You are not eligible for this outreach if:

• You are not a construction worker. Shramik Mitras are funded from the construction cess and are attached only to the construction board, so factory workers, domestic workers, shop assistants and gig workers cannot be registered by them.
• You are below 18 or above 60. The board cannot enrol you as a new member, though an existing member who crosses 60 moves on to the pension track rather than losing everything.
• You work exclusively outside Delhi. The board's jurisdiction is the NCT of Delhi.
• You are a contractor or employer rather than a wage-earning worker.

Note carefully that being helped by a Shramik Mitra is not itself a benefit. The Shramik Mitra opens the door; the cash still comes from the individual board schemes, each with its own separate conditions such as one year of membership for pension, three years for marriage assistance, and 15 years of service plus one year of membership for the housing advance.

What documents are required?

How to apply for help under the Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme

There is no application form for the Shramik Mitra Scheme itself. What you apply for is board registration, and the Shramik Mitra is the free help that gets you there. Follow these steps.

1. Find your ward's Shramik Mitra. Call the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board on 011-23813773 or 011-23813845, or visit A-Wing, 7th Floor, Vikas Bhavan-II, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, and ask which Shramik Mitra covers your ward. Shramik Mitras also visit large sites and labour chowks without being called.
2. Get your 90-day work certificate. Ask your contractor, employer or a registered construction trade union to certify that you have done at least 90 days of construction work in the last 12 months. The Shramik Mitra will tell you which format the board accepts.
3. Register online at the e-District portal. Open edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in, create a citizen login with your Aadhaar or voter ID, and select the DBOCWWB construction worker registration service. Fill in personal, trade and bank details and upload the certificate.
4. Pay the fees. Registration costs Rs 5, and the subscription is Rs 20 for one year. These are the only official charges.
5. Collect your registration card and keep the registration number safe. Every later claim form asks for it.
6. File your benefit claims with the Shramik Mitra's help, using the board's numbered forms — Form XXXV for pension, Form XXXIX for disability pension, Form XXXVIII for death benefits and Form XXXIV for maternity benefit.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the board office at A-Wing, 7th Floor, Vikas Bhavan-II, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, or the labour office serving your district.
2. Collect the registration form, or download it from bocw.delhi.gov.in under the Forms section.
3. Get the form verified by your contractor, employer or a registered trade union connected with the construction sector. The board explicitly names these three verifiers.
4. Submit the form with your Aadhaar, bank passbook and photographs, and pay the Rs 5 registration fee and Rs 20 subscription.

What benefits can a Shramik Mitra help you claim?

Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme is a route to the board's full welfare list. According to the DBOCWWB welfare schemes page, a registered worker can claim:

• Old age pension of Rs 3,000 a month after 60, rising by Rs 300 a year for continuous membership beyond five years.
• Disability pension of Rs 3,000 a month for permanent disability from paralysis, leprosy, tuberculosis or accident, plus a Rs 1,00,000 ex-gratia.
• Accidental death benefit of Rs 2,00,000 and natural death benefit of Rs 1,00,000 to nominees, with Rs 10,000 funeral assistance.
• Family pension of 50 per cent of the pension or Rs 1,500 a month, whichever is higher.
• Maternity benefit of Rs 30,000 for up to two children.
• Marriage assistance of Rs 51,000 for a female member or a daughter, and Rs 35,000 for a male member or a son, after three years of continuous membership.
• Education allowance from Rs 500 a month in classes I to VIII up to Rs 10,000 a month for engineering, medicine or MBA.
• Medical assistance of Rs 10,000 for hospitalisation of five days or more.
• Housing advance of Rs 3,00,000, tool loan of Rs 20,000 and tool grant of Rs 5,000 once in five years.

Why claims get rejected, and how to fix them

• Card lapsed for non-payment of subscription. The commonest failure. The Rs 20 annual subscription keeps membership continuous, and schemes like marriage assistance need three unbroken years. Ask your Shramik Mitra to check and renew.
• 90-day certificate not properly verified. Only a contractor, employer or registered construction trade union can certify. A self-declaration is rejected.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT transfer bounces.
• Name spelt differently on Aadhaar, the registration card and the bank passbook.
• Wrong form used: each benefit has its own numbered form under a specific rule of the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Rules.
• Claim filed after the member left construction work and let membership lapse.

Key dates and current position

Delhi Shramik Mitra Scheme was launched on 9 November 2021 and continues as the board's standing outreach arm. There is no application window and no closing date: Shramik Mitras work through the year, and board registration is open all year subject to the age and 90-day conditions.

How to raise a grievance

• Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board: 011-23813773 or 011-23813845.
• Email: bocwhq.del@gmail.com
• In person: A-Wing, 7th Floor, Vikas Bhavan-II, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054.
• Portal: bocw.delhi.gov.in for forms and scheme rules; edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in for the status of an online application.

If a Shramik Mitra or any agent asks you for money beyond the Rs 5 registration fee and Rs 20 subscription, report it to the board office in writing. The service is free, and no board official will ask for your OTP or your bank password.

How to check your application status

Because there is no separate Shramik Mitra application form, "status" here means the status of your DBOCWWB registration or the benefit claim your Shramik Mitra filed for you. Use whichever route matches how the form was submitted.

1. If you registered or claimed online at edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in: log in with the same Aadhaar or voter ID credentials you used to apply, open "Track Application" or "My Applications" from the citizen dashboard, and enter the application or registration number you were given at submission. The portal shows whether the form is pending with the ward office, sent back for correction, approved, or disbursed.
2. If you do not have the application number: ask the Shramik Mitra who helped you file the form. Shramik Mitras keep a running list of the workers and claims they have submitted in their ward and can look up the reference number for you.
3. If you registered or claimed offline at the board office: call the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board on 011-23813773 or 011-23813845 and quote your registration number or the date you submitted the form. Office staff can tell you which desk the file is at.
4. For a written or email trail, write to bocwhq.del@gmail.com with your registration number, the benefit claimed, and the date of submission, and ask for a status update in reply.
5. In person, visit A-Wing, 7th Floor, Vikas Bhavan-II, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054 with your registration card and a copy of the claim form to have the file checked at the counter.

A pending status for more than a few weeks with no movement is worth escalating through the helpline or the Shramik Mitra rather than waiting indefinitely, since delays are often a missing document or an unverified 90-day certificate that only needs a follow-up visit to resolve.