Scheme for Supply of TV Sets to Industrial Establishments / Labour Welfare Centres / Clubs / Recreation Rooms (Goa)

What is the Scheme for Supply of TV Sets to Industrial Establishments?

Scheme for Supply of TV Sets to Industrial Establishments / Labour Welfare Centres / Clubs / Recreation Rooms is a welfare measure of the Goa Labour Welfare Board, which functions under the Office of the Commissioner, Labour and Employment, Government of Goa. The Board supplies a television set, with accessories, for the shared recreation of workers at a qualifying workplace.

The Board's own mandate under the Goa, Daman and Diu Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1986, brought into force on 26 January 1990 to is to "maintain harmonious industrial relations between employer and employees through preventive mediation and provide labour welfare". This scheme is a small, old-fashioned but concrete piece of that mandate: it is aimed at the shift worker with a rest break and nowhere to spend it, and at labour welfare centres and recreation rooms attached to Goa's larger industrial units.

The scheme is listed as Scheme No. 4 in the Labour Department's citizen charter, alongside educational assistance, spectacles reimbursement, child care benefit for female workers and sports and cultural grants.

What does the scheme give, and how much is it worth?

The benefit is the cost of a TV set including all accessories, subject to a ceiling.

Here the published record needs to be reported exactly as it stands, because it is internally inconsistent. The Labour Department's citizen charter states, under the eligibility criteria for this scheme, that "Cost of T. V. set including all accessories should not exceed Rs. 25000/-". Under the quantum of benefits heading for the same scheme, the same document states "Cost of T. V. set including all accessories should not exceed Rs. 2500/-".

Those two figures differ by a factor of ten. No other official Goa source reachable online resolves the discrepancy. An establishment planning to apply should confirm the operative ceiling in writing with the Goa Labour Welfare Board before committing to a purchase. This guide does not pick one of the two figures, because doing so would mean guessing at a benefit amount.

Who can and cannot get a TV set under this scheme?

An establishment can apply if:

• It is an industrial establishment, a labour welfare centre, a club or a recreation room in Goa.
• It has a minimum of 300 employees. This is the threshold stated in the Board's eligibility criteria and it is the main filter in the scheme.
• The management is willing to issue a certificate in support of the application and to sign an agreement with the Board.
• The cost of the television set including all accessories is within the ceiling fixed by the Board.

You are not eligible if:

• You are an individual worker or a worker's family. This is not a consumer durable subsidy. The television is supplied to an establishment or a welfare centre for shared use, and no individual can apply for a personal benefit under this scheme. Workers seeking individual benefits from the Labour Welfare Board should look instead at the educational assistance scheme for their children, the spectacles reimbursement scheme, or the child care benefit for female industrial workers.
• Your establishment employs fewer than 300 workers. There is no relaxed threshold published for smaller units.
• Your management will not enter into the required agreement with the Board.
• Your proposed television costs more than the ceiling the Board applies.

How to apply for a TV set under the Labour Welfare Board scheme

1. Confirm your worker strength. Verify from the employment register that the establishment, welfare centre, club or recreation room has at least 300 employees, since this is the threshold on which the application turns.
2. Confirm the current cost ceiling with the Board. Because the citizen charter carries two different figures; Rs 25,000 and Rs 2,500 to ask the Goa Labour Welfare Board in writing what limit applies before obtaining quotations.
3. Obtain a certificate from the management or employer. This is the first document the Board lists for this scheme, and it establishes both the identity of the establishment and its worker strength.
4. Get a quotation for the television set including all accessories, within the confirmed ceiling.
5. Submit the application with the employer's certificate to the Goa Labour Welfare Board, at the Office of the Commissioner, Labour and Employment, Shrama Shakti Bhavan, Patto Plaza, Panaji, Goa.
6. Sign the agreement with the Board. The Board's checklist requires an agreement to be signed between the Board and the management. This normally fixes where the set will be kept, who is responsible for it and that it will be used for the recreation of workers.
7. Take delivery and place the set in the welfare centre, club or recreation room for the use of the workers, as recorded in the agreement.

What else does the Goa Labour Welfare Board offer?

An establishment applying under this scheme is usually eligible for several other Board schemes at the same time, and it is worth checking them together:

• Educational assistance to workers' children — Rs 1,000 for Class V and VI; Rs 1,400 for Classes VII to X; Rs 1,800 for Classes XI, XII and XIII and other pre-graduation courses open after Class X; Rs 5,000 for graduation and post graduation degrees in arts, science and commerce, lower technical courses and professional courses such as B.T., L.T., M.Ed. and LL.B.; and Rs 10,000 for MBBS, BE, BSc (Agriculture) and other higher technical courses, research and doctorate studies. Documents required are a certificate from the educational institution and an attested copy of the marksheet.
• Spectacles; reimbursement of cost up to a maximum of Rs 1,000, on a doctor's certificate, the original cash receipt and a certificate from the employer, with one year of continuous service and no wage limit. After five years, lens replacement is reimbursed up to Rs 200.
• Child care benefit for female industrial workers, Rs 2,000, twice in a lifetime, with no wage limit, claimed within six months from the date of delivery, supported by the child's birth certificate, an employer's certificate and a certificate from a recognised hospital.
• Sports, games, social and cultural activities for workers: arranged in areas where more than 1,000 workers or employees are engaged, with total expenditure not exceeding Rs 20,000.

What commonly goes wrong?

• Applying below the 300-worker threshold. This is the most common reason a proposal from a small unit fails.
• Buying the television before approval. The Board supplies the set under an agreement; purchasing first and claiming later is not the route the scheme describes.
• Budgeting against the wrong ceiling. With Rs 25,000 and Rs 2,500 both appearing in the same official document, an establishment that assumes the higher figure may find its proposal cut down.
• No signed agreement. The agreement between the Board and the management is a listed requirement, not a formality that can follow later.
• Treating it as an individual benefit. Workers occasionally approach the Board expecting a personal television; the scheme is for a shared facility.

Where do I contact the Board?

The Goa Labour Welfare Board works from the Office of the Commissioner, Labour and Employment, 2nd Floor, Shrama Shakti Bhavan, Patto Plaza, Panaji, Goa, on 0832-2437081, 2437082 and 2437083, email com-labo@nic.in (written as com-labo[dot]goa[at]nic[dot]in on the department's site).

The department's website carries separate sections for the Labour Welfare Board and the Goa Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, whose schemes are entirely different and apply to registered construction workers.

Key facts to remember

• Scheme for Supply of TV Sets is run by the Goa Labour Welfare Board under the Commissioner, Labour and Employment, Government of Goa.
• It supplies a television set with accessories to an industrial establishment, labour welfare centre, club or recreation room.
• Minimum 300 employees is the eligibility threshold.
• Two documents are listed: a certificate from the management or employer, and an agreement to be signed between the Board and the management.
• The published cost ceiling is inconsistent, Rs 25,000 under eligibility and Rs 2,500 under quantum of benefits in the same citizen charter. Confirm with the Board.
• Individual workers cannot apply; the set is a shared facility.
• The Board runs several individual-worker schemes in parallel, including educational assistance up to Rs 10,000 and a Rs 2,000 child care benefit.
• Legal basis: the Goa, Daman and Diu Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1986, in force from 26 January 1990.

How to check your application status

This is an offline, agreement-based scheme, not a portal-tracked one, so there is no online dashboard, reference number lookup or SMS update to check. An establishment that has submitted its certificate and application must follow up directly with the Goa Labour Welfare Board.

• Call the Labour Welfare Board office. Use 0832-2437081 (or 2437082 / 2437083) and quote the establishment's name, the date the application and employer's certificate were submitted, and the name of the official the papers were handed to, if known.
• Visit in person if the file is urgent. The Board functions from the Office of the Commissioner, Labour and Employment, 2nd Floor, Shrama Shakti Bhavan, Patto Plaza, Panaji. Carry a copy of the submitted certificate and any acknowledgement received at submission.
• Email as a written follow-up. Send a status query to com-labo@nic.in referencing the establishment's name and the submission date, so there is a written record of the follow-up alongside the phone call.
• Ask specifically where the file stands: whether the worker-strength certificate has been verified, whether the cost ceiling has been confirmed for the proposed television, and whether the agreement is ready to be signed. Because the scheme moves from certificate, to ceiling confirmation, to signed agreement, to delivery, knowing which of these four stages the file is at tells the establishment what to do next rather than just whether it has been "approved" or "rejected".
• Keep the acknowledgement of submission safe. Since there is no digital tracking ID, this paper or stamped acknowledgement is the only proof of the submission date if a follow-up dispute arises.
• Follow up again before finalising any purchase. Because the agreement, not the application, is what authorises the Board's contribution, an establishment should not treat "application submitted" as final; it should wait for the Board to confirm readiness to sign before committing to a vendor quotation.