Family Pension — Haryana Silicosis Board

What is the Family Pension under the Haryana Silicosis Board?

Family Pension is one of eight welfare benefits created by the Haryana Silicosis Rehabilitation Policy, notified by the Haryana Labour Department on 4 January 2017 under notification number 6/75/2016-1Lab. According to that notification, the pension is Rs 3,500 per month, paid after the death of a worker due to silicosis; to the widow or widower for as long as he or she is alive, and to one of the living parents where the worker was unmarried.

Silicosis is an incurable occupational lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust. The policy describes it as producing scarring and nodular lesions in the lungs, and lists its typical settings in Haryana: stone crushers, coal-fired thermal power plants, construction sites and mines. The disease is progressive, frequently associated with tuberculosis, and eventually fatal. Because a silicosis death usually removes the sole earner from a low-income household, the state built a monthly family pension into the policy rather than relying only on one-time compensation.

Administration sits with the Haryana Labour Welfare Board. The policy states that all functions relating to implementation are performed by the Board, that the Board issues the silicosis identity card, and that the Labour Commissioner, Haryana, as Welfare Commissioner, is the competent authority to sanction the expenditure. Funding comes from a dedicated corpus made up of a 70 per cent contribution by the Haryana Labour Welfare Board and 30 per cent by the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.

Who is eligible for the silicosis family pension?

You can claim if:

• You are the widow or widower of a worker who died of silicosis, or
• You are one of the living parents of a deceased worker who was unmarried.
• The deceased worker's silicosis was confirmed by the Silicosis Diagnosis Board, Haryana.
• The worker held, or was entitled to hold, a silicosis identity card issued by the Haryana Labour Welfare Board.
• The worker was employed in a factory or at a construction site, which is the coverage the policy expressly sets.

You cannot apply if:

• The worker's silicosis was never confirmed by the Silicosis Diagnosis Board. A private hospital diagnosis alone does not establish entitlement under this policy; the case has to go through the state board.
• You are a child, sibling, or other relative of the deceased. The policy restricts family pension to the spouse or, for an unmarried worker, a living parent. Children are covered separately through education assistance and marriage assistance.
• The worker was employed outside factories and construction sites. The policy says in terms that it "is applicable only for the workers working in the Factories and at the construction sites".
• The death was not due to silicosis, in which case the family may still have claims under the ESI Act, 1948 or the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, but not this pension.
• Both parents are claiming separately for an unmarried worker. Only one living parent draws the pension.

What documents are required?

Annexure-IV, the prescribed application for family pension, also asks for the worker's identity card number, the date of death, and the applicant's contact number, so keep those to hand while filling the form.

How to apply for the silicosis family pension

1. Ensure the silicosis was confirmed and an identity card exists. If the worker was diagnosed but never registered, the family should first take the medical records to the Assistant Director, Industrial Health, so the case can be placed before the Silicosis Diagnosis Board and the identity card issued. The Labour Department also runs a silicosis registration and login section at hrylabour.gov.in for this purpose.
2. Download Annexure-IV, the Application for Claiming Family Pension, from hrylabour.gov.in. The policy states the application performa can be downloaded from that site, and Annexure-IV is marked "admissible only to spouse / one of the living parents".
3. Fill the form completely, applicant's name, address and contact number, Aadhaar and Voter ID numbers, relationship with the deceased worker, the worker's name and address, the identity card number, the date of death, and the applicant's bank account number, branch and IFSC code.
4. Attach the documents — identity card of the deceased worker, death certificate, proof of relationship, bank passbook copy, and copies of Aadhaar and Voter ID, and paste the applicant's photograph.
5. Submit the application to the Assistant Director, Industrial Health of the jurisdiction concerned. The policy makes this officer the entry point for all silicosis welfare claims.
6. The Assistant Director forwards the claim to the Office of the Labour Commissioner-cum-Welfare Commissioner, Haryana, where the sanction is issued and the pension begins.
7. Keep a stamped acknowledgement of the submitted application and follow up with the Assistant Director's office with that reference.

Families should file the other admissible claims at the same visit. Funeral assistance of Rs 15,000 and assistance on death of Rs 1,00,000 are payable to the widow, widower or nominee, and where the worker died after confirmation but before receiving it, rehabilitation assistance of Rs 5,00,000 is payable to the spouse or a living parent. Filing them together saves the family a second round of documentation.

How the family pension fits with the rest of the silicosis policy

A worker who was drawing the Rs 4,000 monthly rehabilitation pension during life does not pass that pension on. On death, the household moves to the Rs 3,500 family pension, a distinction families often miss when they ask why the credited amount changed.

Why silicosis family pension claims fail, and how to fix them

• No confirmation from the Silicosis Diagnosis Board. This is the root cause of most rejections. Confirmation is a precondition, not a formality, and families of workers who died before being examined face the hardest path.
• No silicosis identity card for the deceased worker.
• Death certificate not obtained, or issued in a name that does not match the identity card.
• Relationship not proved, a common problem where a marriage was never registered. A certificate from the sarpanch or ward member, plus the ration card or Family ID showing the couple in one household, usually resolves it.
• Bank account details incorrect, which stops payment after sanction.
• Claim filed with the wrong office. The entry point is the Assistant Director, Industrial Health of the jurisdiction where the worker was employed, not the district social welfare office.

Where to get help

• Shramik Helpline, Labour Department Haryana: 1800-180-2129 or 0172-2971057, 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Saturday
• Haryana Labour Welfare Board: 0172-2560015, toll free 1800-180-4818
• Labour Department head office: 30 Bays Building, Sector 17, Chandigarh 160017, phone 0172-2701373
• HLWB and HBOCW Board office: Bays No. 29-30 (Pocket-II), Sector 4, Panchkula 134112

The Haryana Silicosis Rehabilitation Policy also commits the department to awareness work through ESI and district civil hospitals, medical colleges and NGOs, so the district civil surgeon's office is a reasonable second point of contact where a family is unsure whether a death qualifies as silicosis-related. No fee is payable to anyone for filing or processing a family pension claim.

How to check your application status

The family pension claim is processed offline, so there is no public online tracking dashboard for Annexure-IV once it is submitted. Use these three routes to follow up.

1. Follow up with the Assistant Director, Industrial Health. This is the office where the claim was filed, and it is also the office that forwards the file to the Labour Commissioner-cum-Welfare Commissioner for sanction. Visit or call with the stamped acknowledgement copy of the submitted Annexure-IV and the deceased worker's silicosis identity card number, since the office tracks claims by that reference rather than by a token or application ID.
2. Check the silicosis registration login on hrylabour.gov.in. The Labour Department runs a silicosis registration and login section at hrylabour.gov.in for tracking a worker's case through the Silicosis Diagnosis Board, and the same login can show whether the worker's silicosis record and identity card are in order, which is the precondition the family pension claim depends on. This tells you whether the underlying silicosis case is confirmed, not the payment status of the pension itself.
3. Call the Shramik Helpline for a verbal status update. The Labour Department's Shramik Helpline, 1800-180-2129 or 0172-2971057, operates 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Saturday, and can be asked directly whether a family pension claim filed under a given identity card number has reached the Welfare Commissioner's office for sanction. The Haryana Labour Welfare Board number, 0172-2560015, or its toll-free line 1800-180-4818, is the alternative if the Shramik Helpline cannot locate the file.

Because the pension is a recurring monthly payment rather than a one-time transfer, "status" after the first sanction usually means confirming the pension is still being credited to the applicant's bank account each month, not tracking a pending application. If credits stop, the first step is again the Assistant Director, Industrial Health of the district where the worker was employed, since a stopped payment is most often a bank account mismatch or a lapsed nomination record rather than a cancelled entitlement.