Maternity Assistance Scheme (GBOCWWB)

What is the Maternity Assistance Scheme of the Gujarat BOCW Welfare Board?

Maternity Assistance Scheme is a welfare benefit run by the Gujarat Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board (GBOCWWB), which sits under the Labour, Skill Development and Employment Department of the Government of Gujarat. The Board is a statutory body created under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and it is funded by the cess collected on construction projects in the state, not by a separate budget head. That cess is what pays for this scheme.

Maternity Assistance Scheme exists for one practical reason: a woman working as a mason's helper, a beldar, a bar-bender's assistant or a site labourer stops earning the moment she becomes unfit for heavy site work, and starts earning again only weeks after her delivery. The scheme replaces part of that lost wage and pays for nutrition during the same period. In Gujarati the benefit is usually spoken of as Prasuti Sahay, and workers searching that phrase are looking for this same scheme.

According to the Sanman portal run by the Board, maternity support for a registered female construction worker adds up to Rs 37,500, made up of a payment linked to the delivery itself, a nutrition component, and a monthly wage-compensation component paid across the months immediately before and after childbirth. The money is paid by direct bank transfer into the woman worker's own account.

Maternity Assistance sits alongside about twenty other Board schemes listed on the Sanman portal; Shramik Annapurna Yojana (subsidised meals at sites), accidental death assistance, funeral assistance, housing subsidy, Shramik Basera worker housing, education assistance and health check-up camps. A worker who is registered once becomes eligible to claim across that whole set, which is why registration matters more than any single scheme.

Who is eligible for the Maternity Assistance Scheme?

You are eligible if:

• You are a woman construction worker registered with the Gujarat Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, and your registration is live on the date of delivery.
• You work in a building or other construction activity covered by the BOCW Act: building work, roads, bridges, canals, plumbing, electrical site work, painting, tiling, quarrying-linked construction and similar trades.
• You are a resident of Gujarat and your work is in Gujarat.
• The delivery being claimed for is within the limit of two deliveries per registered worker.
• You hold a bank account in your own name, seeded with your Aadhaar.

You are not eligible if:

• You have never registered with the Board, or your registration has lapsed and has not been renewed. Working on a site is not the same as being registered, and the Board cannot pay an unregistered worker.
• You are claiming for a third or later delivery.
• You are a male worker claiming for your wife's delivery under this particular head. The benefit is framed for the registered female worker herself. Male registered workers should check the separate family-welfare heads listed on the Sanman portal rather than assume this scheme covers them.
• You are employed in a supervisory, administrative, managerial or clerical capacity rather than as a manual construction worker, such employees fall outside the BOCW Act definition of a building worker.
• You have already drawn maternity benefit for the same delivery from another government source such as ESIC, since duplicate benefit for one event is not allowed.

What documents are required?

Keep both the original and a clear photocopy or scan. The Sanman portal accepts uploads in common image and PDF formats, and a blurred delivery certificate is one of the routine reasons a file is sent back.

How to apply for maternity assistance online

1. Open the Board's citizen portal at sanman.gujarat.gov.in.
2. Log in with the mobile number registered against your construction worker registration, and complete the OTP verification. If you have never used the portal, use the citizen registration option first and link your worker registration number.
3. Open the schemes list and select the maternity assistance scheme (Prasuti Sahay) from the Board's scheme menu.
4. Fill the claim form: worker registration number, date of delivery, hospital name, and your bank account number with IFSC code.
5. Upload the registration card, Aadhaar, proof of delivery and the bank passbook page.
6. Submit the form and save the application number shown on the confirmation screen. Print or screenshot it; every later enquiry needs that number.
7. Track progress through the application status screen until it shows approved and paid.

How to apply offline

1. Visit your district BOCW / labour office, or the Shramik Suvidha Kendra or worker facilitation centre attached to it.
2. Ask for the maternity assistance (Prasuti Sahay) claim form and fill it in.
3. Attach self-attested copies of the registration card, Aadhaar, delivery proof and bank passbook.
4. Submit the file and take a stamped acknowledgement with the inward number and date.
5. Follow up with the same office quoting that inward number.

The offline route is the one to use if your registered mobile number has changed and you can no longer receive the portal OTP, because the office can update the mobile number on your worker record at the same visit.

How is the money paid?

Payment is made by direct bank transfer into the registered worker's own account after the district office scrutinises the claim and the sanctioning authority approves it. Because payment is Aadhaar-linked, the two things that most often stall an otherwise valid claim are an account in a husband's or father's name and an account that has never been seeded with Aadhaar at the branch. Fix both before applying rather than after rejection.

Why maternity claims get rejected, and how to fix them

• Registration lapsed — renew the Board registration at the district office and file the claim again.
• Bank account not in the worker's name: open or nominate an account in her own name, seed it with Aadhaar, and update the bank details in the claim.
• Delivery proof not accepted. A handwritten slip is not enough; get the birth certificate from the local body or a certificate on hospital letterhead.
• Claim beyond two deliveries, not curable; the limit is a scheme condition.
• Name mismatch between the Aadhaar, the registration card and the bank record, correct the spelling at the weakest of the three and resubmit.
• Duplicate claim for the same delivery already paid elsewhere.

Where to get help

• Board head office: Gujarat Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, Block 15, Udyog Bhavan, Gandhinagar 382011.
• District labour office / Shramik Suvidha Kendra in your district. The first stop for registration renewal, document correction and claim follow-up.
• Sanman portal grievance option at sanman.gujarat.gov.in for written complaints, quoting your application number.

Registration and the maternity claim are both free of cost. If a contractor or an agent asks for a share of the assistance amount, that is not a scheme charge and should be reported to the district labour office.