Death Assistance Scheme (Madhya Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board)

What is the MPBOCW Death Assistance Scheme?

The Death Assistance Scheme, known locally as Mrityu Sahayata Yojana, is run by the Madhya Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board under the Labour Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh. According to the Labour Department's scheme page, the Welfare Board has operated this assistance since 2004, funded from the cess collected on construction projects in the state under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act.

The Death Assistance Scheme exists because construction is one of the most hazardous occupations in India and most construction workers have no employer provided life cover. When a registered worker dies, the household typically loses its only earner overnight and has to arrange funeral costs the same day. The scheme answers both problems: an immediate small sum for the last rites, and a much larger ex-gratia payment to the dependants.

Key features

• Funded entirely by the construction cess pool held by the MPBOCW Welfare Board, not from a beneficiary contribution.
• Benefit is tied to the worker's own registration card, not to a poverty line or an income certificate.
• Covers both death and permanent disability arising from an accident.
• Sanctioned locally by the Janpad Panchayat CEO or the Municipal Commissioner, which keeps the decision at the block or city level rather than at Bhopal.

How much does the Death Assistance Scheme pay?

The Madhya Pradesh Labour Department lists the following amounts under this scheme:

The Rs 6,000 funeral component is separate from the ex-gratia, so a family whose registered worker died in a road or site accident is entitled to Rs 4,06,000 in total once the claim is sanctioned. The distinction between "natural" and "accidental" death is worth a hundred thousand rupees or more, which is exactly why the post-mortem report and the FIR matter so much in an accident claim.

Payment is made by electronic transfer into the bank account of the dependant who filed the claim, not in cash and not to a middleman.

Who is eligible for the Death Assistance Scheme?

The family can claim if:

• The deceased was a construction worker holding a valid registration (identity) card issued by the Madhya Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.
• The claimant is a dependant of the deceased. The Labour Department sets the priority order as spouse first, then sons and unmarried dependent daughters, then dependent parents, and only then other dependent family members.
• The claim is filed within 6 months of the date of the death or the accident.
• The death or the disabling accident is documented. A registered death certificate for every claim, and additionally a post-mortem report and FIR for an accidental death claim.

The family cannot apply if:

• The worker was never registered with the MPBOCW Welfare Board. This is by far the most common reason claims fail in Madhya Pradesh. Registration has to happen while the worker is alive and working; it cannot be created after death.
• The registration had lapsed and was not renewed, so the card was not valid on the date of death.
• The person who died was not a building or other construction worker as defined under the BOCW Act, for example a factory employee or an agricultural labourer. Those households are not eligible under this particular scheme.
• The claimant is not a dependant, a distant relative, a neighbour or an employer cannot draw the ex-gratia on the family's behalf.
• More than 6 months have passed since the death without any application being filed.

Families outside this net are not left with nothing. The Social Justice and Empowerment Department's Rashtriya Parivar Sahayata Yojana pays Rs 20,000 to a below-poverty-line family that loses its main earner aged 18 to 60, and the Antyeshti Sahayata Yojana pays Rs 3,000 towards last rites. Those are separate applications to a different department.

What documents are required?

Keep at least two photocopy sets. The gram panchayat or ward office retains one set with the application and the Janpad or municipal office keeps another during sanction.

How to apply for MPBOCW death assistance

1. Collect the death certificate from the gram panchayat, nagar palika or municipal corporation where the death was registered. Nothing moves without it.
2. Register an FIR and obtain the post-mortem report if the death was caused by an accident. Without these two papers the claim will normally be processed at the lower natural-death rate.
3. Obtain the claim form for Mrityu Sahayata from your gram panchayat secretary, the ward office, or a Lok Seva Kendra. Fill in the deceased worker's registration card number exactly as printed on the card.
4. Attach the document set: registration card, death certificate, proof of relationship, Aadhaar, Samagra ID and a copy of the claimant's bank passbook.
5. Submit the application within 6 months of the death or accident at the Lok Seva Kendra, the gram panchayat office if you live in a rural area, or the municipal corporation or nagar palika office if you live in a town or city.
6. Collect the dated acknowledgement receipt. Keep it safe; every follow-up depends on the receipt or application number printed on it.
7. Follow up with the sanctioning authority. The Chief Executive Officer of the Janpad Panchayat for rural claims, or the Municipal Commissioner for urban claims.

How do I check the status of the claim?

Madhya Pradesh routes these applications through the public service delivery system, so the acknowledgement receipt normally carries an application number that can be quoted at the MP e-District portal or at the Lok Seva Kendra counter where the form was submitted. The most reliable routes are:

1. Return to the Lok Seva Kendra with the acknowledgement receipt and ask the operator to pull up the application number.
2. Ask the gram panchayat secretary or ward officer where the file has reached — pending verification, forwarded, sanctioned or objected.
3. Contact the Janpad Panchayat CEO office or the Municipal Commissioner's office, which holds the sanction power.
4. Call the Madhya Pradesh CM Helpline on 181 and register a complaint quoting the application number if the file has not moved for weeks.

Why do death assistance claims get rejected?

• The worker was not registered, or the registration had lapsed. Nothing can be done about this after the death, which is why every construction worker in the family should be registered while working.
• The 6-month limit was missed. Families often spend months on the death certificate first and only then learn about the scheme.
• No FIR or post-mortem report in an accident case, so the accidental-death rate cannot be applied.
• Name mismatch between the registration card, the death certificate and the Aadhaar record of the deceased. Spelling differences in the father's name are a frequent cause.
• Bank account of the claimant is inactive, unseeded or in someone else's name, so the transfer fails at the payment stage.
• Dispute between claimants, for example a widow and the parents both filing. The priority order settles this, but the file stops until it is resolved.

Most of these are fixable by resubmitting a corrected form rather than starting a fresh claim, provided the 6-month window has not closed.

Where do I complain if the claim is stuck?

• Madhya Pradesh CM Helpline: 181. The state's general grievance line, which forwards complaints to the concerned district officer with a tracking number.
• District Labour Officer, who represents the MPBOCW Welfare Board at the district level and can look into a stalled or rejected claim.
• Labour Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh, Indore, for escalation beyond the district.
• Chief Executive Officer, Janpad Panchayat (rural) or Municipal Commissioner (urban). The sanctioning authorities, who must record a reason in writing when a claim is refused.

Registering a construction worker with the Welfare Board and keeping that registration renewed is the single most useful thing a family can do, because the entire Rs 4,06,000 entitlement in an accidental death case rests on that one card being valid on the day it is needed.