Paternity Benefit (HP Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board)

What is the HP BOCW Board's paternity benefit?

Paternity Benefit is one of the cash benefits paid by the Himachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, the statutory board set up under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and funded by the labour cess collected on construction work in the state. The Board works under the Labour and Employment Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh, and its scheme rules are published as a consolidated welfare schemes notification on bocw.hp.gov.in.

The benefit sits inside Rule 271, which the Board's own scheme table titles Matritva/Pitritva Prasuvidha: maternity and paternity benefit taken together. Two of the four sub-clauses of that rule are the paternity side:

• Rs 6,000 per delivery is paid where the wife of a registered worker delivers a child. This is available for up to two deliveries.
• Rs 1,000 is paid to a male beneficiary on the birth of a child, as the paternity payment proper.

The remaining two sub-clauses of Rule 271 cover a registered woman worker; Rs 25,000 on childbirth and maternity leave wages at the prevailing minimum wage rate for 90 days up to 26 weeks, and are dealt with on the Board's maternity benefit page.

The purpose of the Rs 6,000 strand is practical. A registered construction worker loses working days around a delivery in the household and faces hospital, transport and nutrition costs at exactly that time. The Board pays the amount directly into the worker's bank account rather than through any contractor or intermediary.

Who is eligible for the paternity benefit in Himachal Pradesh?

You can claim if:

• You are a male building or other construction worker registered with the HP BOCW Welfare Board and your registration is live.
• You have completed two months of membership of the Board. The scheme table records the eligibility condition against Rule 271 as do maah ki sadasyata; two months' membership.
• Your wife has delivered a child, and this is her first or second delivery for the purposes of the Rs 6,000 payment.
• Your contribution to the Board fund is up to date, so the registration has not lapsed.

The underlying registration rule of the Board, stated on its portal, is that a building worker aged 18 to 60 who has done at least 90 days of building or other construction work in the previous 12 months may register as a beneficiary. Registration costs Rs 1 as the registration fee plus Rs 9 as advance contribution covering three years. A total of Rs 10, which is one of the lowest entry costs of any welfare board in the country. Trades listed on the registration form include bar bender, beldar, electrician, labourer, mason, painter, plumber and welder, with an "other" option for trades not listed.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not registered with the HP BOCW Welfare Board, however long you have worked in construction. There is no route to the benefit outside registration.
• Your registration has lapsed because the annual contribution was not paid and no renewal has been done.
• You have not completed two months of Board membership on the date of delivery.
• The claim is for a third or later delivery by your wife — the Rs 6,000 payment stops at two.
• You are a member of another welfare fund covering the same risk, which the Board's registration conditions exclude.

How much is paid and when?

The Board pays by transfer into the registered worker's own bank account. That is why the account number and IFSC captured at registration must be current. A closed or dormant account is a frequent cause of a failed credit even after the claim is sanctioned. If you have changed banks since registering, use the Update Beneficiary page on the portal before you file the claim, not after.

Amounts under the Board's schemes are fixed by resolution and revised from time to time. The Rs 6,000 and Rs 1,000 figures are the rates in the consolidated welfare schemes notification currently published on the Board's site; confirm the rate in force with your District Labour Welfare Officer when you file, because a revision takes effect from the date of the Board resolution.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the HP BOCW paternity benefit

1. Confirm your registration is live. Open bocw.hp.gov.in and use the Find Beneficiary page to check that your record exists and your details are correct. If your contribution is overdue, clear it first through the Online Renewal and Pay Fee pages.
2. Collect the child's birth certificate from the Registrar of Births and Deaths at your panchayat or municipal office, or from the hospital where the delivery took place. Nothing moves without this.
3. Open the "Apply For Benefits" page on the portal. Enter your Beneficiary ID and date of birth to open the claim form, then select the maternity and paternity benefit head under Rule 271.
4. Fill the claim details; date of delivery, birth order, the mother's name, and your bank account details as they appear in your passbook.
5. Upload the supporting documents using the Upload Registration Documents page, keeping each scan legible. A blurred birth certificate is returned for re-upload and costs weeks.
6. Submit and save the acknowledgement number shown on screen. Print it or photograph it.
7. Follow it up at the district office. The District or Sub-Divisional Labour Welfare Officer verifies the claim before the Board sanctions payment.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the District Labour Welfare Officer or Sub-Divisional Labour Welfare Officer of the Board having jurisdiction over the place where you are registered.
2. Ask for the claim form for benefits under Rule 271. The Board also publishes downloadable Hindi and English forms under the Downloads section of bocw.hp.gov.in.
3. Fill the form, attach self-attested copies of the documents listed above, and submit it against a dated receipt. Insist on the receipt, it is your proof of the filing date.
4. The office verifies the registration, the two-month membership condition and the birth record, then forwards the case to the Board for sanction.

Workers in remote blocks of Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, Chamba and Sirmaur often find it easier to route the paper claim through the labour inspector who covers the block, rather than travelling to the district headquarters twice.

How do you check the status of a claim?

1. Open bocw.hp.gov.in and select Check Status under the services menu.
2. Enter your Beneficiary ID.
3. Read the stage shown: filed, under verification at the district office, sanctioned, or paid.

If the status stays unchanged for several weeks, telephone the Board on 0177-2629807, 0177-2620256, 0177-2620210 or 0177-2625084, or write to hpbocwwboard@gmail.com with your Beneficiary ID in the subject line.

Why paternity benefit claims get rejected

• Registration lapsed, the annual contribution was not paid and the card is dead on the date of delivery. This is the single largest cause.
• Two-month membership not completed on the date of birth.
• Third delivery claimed under a payment capped at two.
• Name mismatch between the Aadhaar card, the Board record and the bank account, which stops the transfer even after sanction.
• Birth certificate not produced, or produced with a spelling of the father's name that does not match the Board record.
• Bank account closed or dormant, so the credit bounces back to the Board.
• Wife's relationship not documented, where no marriage certificate or family record is attached.

Most of these are curable. A lapsed registration can be renewed and the claim refiled; a name mismatch is fixed through the Update Beneficiary page before resubmission.

Where do you complain if the claim is stuck?

• HP BOCW Welfare Board: 0177-2629807, 0177-2620256, 0177-2620210, 0177-2625084; email hpbocwwboard@gmail.com.
• District Labour Welfare Officer of your district, in writing, quoting the acknowledgement number and date of filing.
• e-Samadhan, the Himachal Pradesh online public grievance portal, which is linked from the top of the Board's home page.
• Himachal Pradesh CM Helpline 1100 for a general escalation.

No fee is payable to any agent for filing a Board claim. Registration itself costs Rs 1 plus Rs 9 advance contribution, and every claim form is free at the Labour Welfare Office and downloadable from the portal.