Funeral Assistance Scheme (GBOCWWB)

What is the Funeral Assistance Scheme of the Gujarat construction workers board?

Funeral Assistance Scheme, known in Gujarati as Antyeshti Sahay Yojana, is a welfare payment made by the Gujarat Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (GBOCWWB) to the family of a registered construction worker who dies. The Board is a statutory body constituted under section 18 of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and it sits under the Labour, Skill Development and Employment Department of the Government of Gujarat.

According to the scheme document published on the Board's own portal, the main objective of Funeral Assistance Scheme is to provide financial assistance to the heirs of a construction labourer registered with the Board in case of death during the ongoing membership. The benefit is stated as Rs 10,000.

The purpose is narrow and practical. When a construction worker dies, the family faces the immediate cash cost of last rites within a day or two, long before any larger settlement, provident fund claim or insurance payout can be processed. Rs 10,000 is intended to meet that immediate cost, and it is deliberately processed as a simple, low-documentation claim.

Key features

• One-time payment of Rs 10,000 to the heir.
• Applies to death from any cause during live membership, not only accidents.
• Funded from the construction cess collected by the Board, not by any contribution from the worker beyond registration.
• Paid by direct benefit transfer into the heir's bank account.
• Filed on the Sanman portal, the common online window for all Gujarat labour welfare schemes.

Who is eligible for funeral assistance?

A family can claim if:

• The deceased was a construction worker registered with GBOCWWB. The Board registers building and other construction workers aged 18 to 60 who have worked at least 90 days as a construction worker in the previous 12 months in Gujarat.
• The registration, commonly held as an e-Nirman card, was live at the time of death. The scheme document is explicit that the death must occur "during the ongoing membership".
• The claimant is the legal heir: usually the spouse, and otherwise a child or dependent parent — and can swear a self-declaration of inheritance.
• The death is registered and a death certificate has been issued.

A family is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The worker was never registered with the Board. Unregistered construction workers are covered by the Board's Accidental Death Assistance Scheme in the case of a site accident, but not by funeral assistance.
• The worker's registration had lapsed or expired before the death and was not renewed. This is the single most common reason a funeral assistance claim fails, because renewal is easy to forget.
• The deceased was a factory or establishment worker rather than a construction worker. Those families should approach the Gujarat Labour Welfare Board instead, which runs its own set of schemes at glwb.gujarat.gov.in.
• No claimant can establish heirship, or two claimants dispute it. The Board will hold the file until the dispute is resolved.

There is no income test, no caste or category restriction and no BPL card requirement. Registration with the Board is the only gateway.

How much money does the scheme give and how is it paid?

The benefit is a flat Rs 10,000. There is no graded amount by cause of death, district or family size, and no instalments. Once the file is approved, the Accounts Officer of the Board issues a payment order and the amount is credited by direct benefit transfer to the bank account named in the claim.

Families should understand what this payment is not. Rs 10,000 is funeral assistance only. It does not replace:

• Accidental Death Assistance Scheme of the same Board, which pays Rs 3,00,000 where a registered or unregistered construction worker dies in an accident at a construction site, or suffers permanent disability there.
• Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, which the Board also facilitates for registered workers with a cover of Rs 2,00,000.
• Shree Nanaji Deshmukh Awas Yojana, the Board's housing assistance of up to Rs 1,60,000, or its education, maternity and medical schemes.

Where a worker dies in a site accident, the family should file both the funeral assistance claim and the accidental death claim. They are separate applications with separate document lists.

What documents are required for the Funeral Assistance Scheme?

This list is taken directly from the Board's published scheme document. Keep the spelling of the deceased worker's name identical across the registration card, the death certificate and the ration card; a mismatch will send the file back.

How to apply for the Funeral Assistance Scheme

1. Register the death with the municipal corporation, nagarpalika or gram panchayat and collect the death certificate. Nothing can move without it.
2. Prepare the affidavit and the inheritance self-declaration naming the claimant as the heir, and collect the ration card copy and the claimant's bank passbook page.
3. Open the Sanman portal at sanman.gujarat.gov.in and create a login using a mobile number, or log in if the family already has an account. The portal's own process is self register, log in, then apply.
4. Select the Gujarat Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board scheme list and open Funeral Assistance Scheme.
5. Enter the deceased worker's registration number, date of death, and the heir's personal and bank details.
6. Upload the death certificate, both identity proofs, the affidavit, the inheritance declaration, the ration card and the bank passbook page.
7. Submit and save the application number shown on the confirmation screen.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the district office of the Construction Board for your district. The Board publishes district-wise office details on bocwwb.gujarat.gov.in.
2. Ask for the funeral assistance form, fill it in and attach self-attested copies of all seven documents.
3. Submit the file and collect the acknowledgement slip. The District Project Manager uploads the form on the Sanman portal, after which it follows the same approval route as an online claim.

How to check the status of a funeral assistance claim

1. Log in to sanman.gujarat.gov.in with the credentials used at the time of applying.
2. Open the application list and enter the application number.
3. The portal shows the stage the file has reached: district verification, head office approval, payment order issued, or payment released.
4. If the status is unchanged for several weeks, call the Board's toll free number 1800-233-2324 or 079-25502271, quoting the application number and the deceased worker's registration number.

Common reasons a claim is rejected

• Registration lapsed before the date of death. Renewal is the family's responsibility while the worker is alive, and there is no way to renew after death.
• Name mismatch between the registration card, the Aadhaar card and the death certificate.
• Heirship not established, or competing claims by two family members.
• Wrong or closed bank account, which causes the DBT to fail even after the claim is sanctioned. Correct the account details on the portal and the payment is re-attempted.
• Incomplete affidavit that does not state the relationship of the claimant to the deceased.

When should the claim be filed?

Funeral Assistance Scheme is open all year and there is no seasonal window, because the trigger is the death itself. The Board does apply a claim window counted from the date of death for its death-related schemes, so the practical advice is to file as soon as the death certificate is in hand rather than wait. Where the exact limitation period is unclear, the district office will confirm it against the current circular; ask for it in writing.

Where to complain or get help

• Toll free helpline: 1800-233-2324
• Board office phone: 079-25502271
• Head office: Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, First Floor, F-1 Wing, Block 3, Karmyogi Bhavan, Sector 10-A, Gandhinagar
• Second office: 1st Floor, Shram Bhavan, opposite Gun House, Ahmedabad
• Portal: bocwwb.gujarat.gov.in, which carries district-wise office details, government resolutions and the full scheme checklist

Applying is free at every step. If a district office asks for money to move a funeral assistance file, report it to the head office in writing with the application number.