Shramyogi Home Town Scheme - Gujarat Labour Welfare Board

What is the Shramyogi Home Town Scheme?

The Shramyogi Home Town Scheme is a travel reimbursement benefit of the Gujarat Labour Welfare Board that pays the railway fare for a migrant worker to travel from Gujarat to the home town and back. The board lists it simply as the Home Town Scheme among its welfare schemes, and the transliterated name Shramyogi Home Town Scheme is how most workers search for it.

The board explains the reasoning on its own scheme page. Gujarat's industrial development draws workers from other states in large numbers, and those workers live apart from their families for long stretches. The objective, in the board's words, is to let them visit their home town once in every two years, since the financial burden of that travel cannot be met from limited wages. A single unreserved or sleeper class round trip from Ahmedabad or Surat to a district in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha or Madhya Pradesh can cost more than a week's wage, which is exactly the gap the scheme closes.

The Gujarat Labour Welfare Board was set up in 1960 under The Bombay Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953, and finances its schemes from a fund built on contributions deposited by covered establishments. That is why every one of its schemes, including this one, turns on whether the employer actually pays the Labour Welfare Fund contribution for the worker.

Key features

• Benefit: to-and-fro railway fare to the worker's home town.
• Frequency: once in two years.
• Precondition: one year of continuous covered employment in Gujarat with Labour Welfare Fund contributions deposited.
• Sequence: approval first, travel next, proof afterwards.
• Route: the Sanman portal, sanman.gujarat.gov.in.

Who is eligible for the Home Town Scheme?

A worker qualifies if:

• The worker is employed in a Gujarat establishment covered by the Labour Welfare Fund, in the organised sector.
• The worker's home town is in another state, since the scheme is designed for migrant labour who came to Gujarat for a livelihood.
• The worker has completed at least one year of continuous employment with the same establishment.
• The employer has deposited Labour Welfare Fund contributions for the worker with the board.
• The worker has not claimed the benefit within the current two-year block.
• The worker obtains prior approval from the board before making the journey.

A worker is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• The employer does not contribute to the Labour Welfare Fund, which puts the establishment outside the board's coverage entirely.
• The worker has less than one year of continuous covered service.
• The worker's home town is inside Gujarat, since this scheme is aimed at inter-state migrant workers.
• The worker already claimed the home town benefit inside the same two-year window.
• The worker travelled first and applied afterwards, without the prior approval the scheme requires.
• The worker cannot produce railway tickets for the journey.

The prior-approval condition is the one that trips up most claimants. It is not a formality — it is how the board controls its outgo, and a journey made without approval is generally not reimbursable however genuine it was.

What documents are required for the home town travel claim?

Keep physical tickets safe from the moment you buy them. Unreserved paper tickets fade and tear, and a worker who cannot produce the outward ticket loses half the claim. Photographing each ticket on the day of travel is a cheap insurance policy.

How to apply for the Shramyogi Home Town Scheme

1. Check your service and contribution record. Ask your employer for written confirmation of at least one year of continuous employment and of Labour Welfare Fund contributions deposited on your behalf.
2. Register on the Sanman portal. Open sanman.gujarat.gov.in, use the registration link to create a worker account, and verify your mobile number.
3. Log in and select the Home Town Scheme from the Gujarat Labour Welfare Board scheme list.
4. Fill the application before you travel, giving your employer details, home town address in the other state, the planned dates of the journey and your bank account details.
5. Upload the employer certificate, contribution proof, Aadhaar and home town address proof, then submit and note the application number.
6. Wait for the board's approval and keep the approval reference. Do not book and travel on the assumption of approval.
7. Make the journey and preserve both tickets, outward and return.
8. Submit the proof of travel promptly after returning, uploading the tickets against the same application. Do this within a month of the return journey, as the board expects the claim to be closed soon after travel.
9. Track the reimbursement in the Sanman portal and in the bank account linked to the application.

If your establishment has a personnel or welfare officer, involve them at step one. Employers who are registered with the board can usually produce the contribution statement in a day, and their letterhead certificate removes most of the doubt about continuity of service.

How to check the status of a home town claim

1. Log in to sanman.gujarat.gov.in and open the application status section.
2. Enter the application number from the acknowledgement.
3. Check whether the file is at the approval stage, the proof-of-travel stage or the payment stage, since the scheme has two distinct submissions.
4. Raise a service request on the board's e-Seva portal at glwbcrm.gujarat.gov.in if the status does not move.
5. Call the toll-free helpline 1800-233-1961, or the head office on 079-22773303, quoting the application number.

Why home town claims get rejected

• No prior approval, because the worker travelled first and applied later.
• Tickets not produced for one or both legs of the journey.
• Less than one year of continuous employment at the time of the claim.
• No Labour Welfare Fund contribution deposited by the employer.
• Second claim inside the same two-year block.
• Home town shown inside Gujarat, which takes the case outside the scheme's purpose.
• Bank account mismatch, where the account is not in the worker's own name or the IFSC is wrong.
• Proof submitted long after the return journey, outside the expected window.

A rejected claim for a documentary reason can normally be resubmitted with the missing paper. A claim rejected for travelling without approval usually cannot be revived, so the correct response is to apply properly for the next cycle.

Where to get help and complain

• Toll free: 1800-233-1961
• Head office: Gujarat Labour Welfare Board, Shramyogi Kalyan Bhavan, "G" Colony, opposite water tank, Sukhramnagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380021
• Phone: 079-22773303 to 22773306
• Email: glwb1961 at gmail dot com
• e-Seva: glwbcrm.gujarat.gov.in
• Labour and Employment Department, Gujarat: labour.gujarat.gov.in for issues about an employer who refuses to deposit Labour Welfare Fund contributions

The Home Town Scheme costs the worker nothing to apply for. Any demand for a commission on the reimbursed fare, whether by a contractor, a supervisor or an outside agent, should be reported to the board in writing.