Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana (Medical Assistance for Construction Workers)

What is Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana?

Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana is the medical assistance scheme of the Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana reimburses treatment costs when a registered construction worker or a member of the worker's family is diagnosed with a serious illness: cancer, heart disease, kidney disorders, AIDS, liver transplant and other major conditions notified by the board.

The scheme sits under the Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development Department, Government of Jharkhand, and is administered by the welfare board constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. The money comes from the cess fund, a levy collected on the cost of construction across the state, and not from the worker's pocket. That distinction is important: this is a statutory entitlement paid for by the construction industry, not a charitable grant.

A departmental notification issued on 6 June 2025, effective from 25 June 2025, laid down the Aadhaar authentication framework for the scheme, including exception-handling routes so that biometric failure does not deny a genuine worker the benefit.

Key features

• Reimbursement of treatment cost for notified serious illnesses.
• Available to a registered worker and the worker's family.
• Assistance is available once per illness.
• Payment is released after district-level committee approval.
• Funded fully from the construction cess fund.
• Online claim only, with Aadhaar authentication.
• Minimum age of 18 years.

The scheme is also referred to in departmental papers as Chikitsa Sahayata Yojana; both names describe the same medical assistance benefit of the board.

Who is eligible for Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana?

You can claim if:

• You are registered as a construction worker with the Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, and the registration is live on the date of the claim.
• You are a resident of Jharkhand.
• You are 18 years of age or above.
• You or a family member has been diagnosed with an illness on the board's notified list of serious diseases.
• You can produce hospital records and original bills for the treatment.
• Your Aadhaar can be authenticated, by biometric, OTP or offline e-KYC.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not registered with the welfare board. Registration must precede the illness; a worker cannot register after diagnosis and claim for treatment already taken.
• Your registration has lapsed, most often because the annual contribution was not paid. Lapsed registration is the most common single reason claims are rejected.
• The illness is not on the notified list. Routine outpatient consultations, minor injuries and general medicines fall outside this scheme.
• You have already claimed for the same illness. The benefit is once per illness.
• You are not a resident of Jharkhand, or are below 18 years of age.

Construction workers whose registration has lapsed should renew it at the District Labour Office before doing anything else, since a renewed registration does not retrospectively revive a claim period that has already closed.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana

1. Check that your board registration is live. Take your registration card to the District Labour Office, or check on the labour department portal, and renew the registration if the contribution is overdue. A lapsed card stops the claim before it starts.
2. Assemble the medical file. Collect the discharge summary, the diagnosis documents naming the illness, and every original bill and payment receipt for the treatment. Reimbursement is based on documented expenditure, so missing bills reduce or defeat the claim.
3. Complete Aadhaar authentication. Use biometric authentication where it works. Where the fingerprint scan fails: common among construction workers whose fingerprints are worn — ask for OTP-based verification or offline e-KYC, both of which the department has explicitly provided for.
4. File the claim online on the Jharkhand labour department portal, attaching scanned copies of the registration card, Aadhaar, residence certificate, medical records, bills and bank passbook.
5. Take help from the designated officers if you cannot file it yourself. The Labour Enforcement Officer at circle level and the Labour Superintendent at district level are designated to guide construction workers through the online application.
6. Note the application number shown after submission and keep it with your medical file.
7. Await district committee approval. The claim goes to a district-level committee; payment is released to the Aadhaar-seeded bank account after that committee approves it.

How do I register with the welfare board first?

Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana is a benefit of board membership, so registration is the gateway to it and to every other construction worker benefit in Jharkhand. A worker who is not yet registered should complete registration long before any illness arises:

1. Establish that you have worked as a building or construction worker for the qualifying number of days in the preceding year. This is the statutory test under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, 1996, and is normally certified by the employer, contractor or the local authority.
2. Take your Aadhaar card, residence proof, bank passbook, photographs and the work certificate to the District Labour Office, or approach the Labour Enforcement Officer at your circle office.
3. Pay the small statutory registration fee and annual contribution, and collect the registration card with your registration number on it.
4. Renew the contribution every year. Registration lapses when the annual contribution is not paid, and a lapsed card is the reason most Chikitsa Pratipoorti claims fail at the first check.

Registered workers become eligible not only for medical assistance but for the board's other cess-funded benefits, including safety kits, education assistance for children, maternity benefit and death and disability assistance. Workers already registered should verify once a year that their Aadhaar, bank account and mobile number in the board record are current, because a stale record delays a claim exactly when the family can least afford delay.

How to check your claim status

1. Log in to the labour department portal with your registration number and the application number issued at submission.
2. Ask the Labour Enforcement Officer at your circle office for the current position of the file, since the officer can see it in the departmental system.
3. For a claim pending after the district committee has met, approach the Labour Superintendent at the District Labour Office.
4. Confirm the actual credit in your bank passbook, since portal status can show approval before the money is posted.

Why Chikitsa Pratipoorti claims get rejected

• Registration lapsed at the time of the illness or the claim.
• Illness not on the notified list, which is the second most common reason.
• Missing original bills, or bills in a name that does not match the worker or the declared family member.
• Aadhaar authentication failure where the applicant did not use the OTP or offline e-KYC route.
• Repeat claim for the same illness, which the once-per-illness rule bars.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the reimbursement transfer fails.
• Family relationship not established where the patient is a dependant rather than the worker.

Where to get help or complain

• Labour Enforcement Officer at your circle office. The first point of contact for filing and for follow-up.
• Labour Superintendent, District Labour Office, for approval delays and rejections.
• Jharkhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Labour, Employment, Training and Skill Development Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi, for policy questions and unresolved grievances.

No fee is payable to claim under Chikitsa Pratipoorti Yojana. The benefit is funded from the cess fund, and no officer, contractor, hospital agent or middleman may charge a worker to file the claim or to release the reimbursement. Because the exact reimbursement ceiling is fixed by board notification and has been revised over time, confirm the current maximum with the District Labour Office before assuming a figure.