OB&OCWWB Assistance in Case of Accidents (Odisha)

What is OB&OCWWB Assistance in Case of Accidents?

OB&OCWWB Assistance in Case of Accidents is the disability compensation arm of the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, the statutory body constituted on 3 January 2004 under Section 18 of the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996. The Board sits under the Labour & Employees State Insurance (ESI) Department, Government of Odisha, and the Labour Commissioner, Odisha, serves as both Member Secretary and chief executive officer.

The money does not come from the general budget. Odisha collects a cess of 1 per cent on the cost of construction works across the state and credits it to the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Fund created under rule 263 of the Orissa Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2002. Accident assistance is paid from that fund.

Rule 270 of those Rules is the operative provision. It states that where disability results from an accident, the Board may sanction financial assistance to the beneficiary depending on the percentage of disability. The rupee figures have been revised three times, by the Amendment Rules of 2010, the Amendment Rules of 2014 published in Odisha Gazette No. 449 of 1 March 2014, and Gazette Notification No. 933 of 30 May 2019, and the figures below reflect the position after the 2019 amendment.

How much money does the accident scheme pay?

Rule 270 fixes four slabs.

• Loss by actual physical separation, or total and irrecoverable loss of use, of both hands, or both feet, or one hand and one foot, or total and irrecoverable loss of sight in both eyes: Rs 1,50,000.
• Loss by actual physical separation, or total and irrecoverable loss of use, of one hand, or one foot, or total and irrecoverable loss of sight in one eye: Rs 80,000.
• Permanent total disablement from injuries other than those listed above: Rs 80,000. This figure was raised from Rs 40,000 by the 2019 amendment.
• Permanent partial disablement: a percentage of Rs 1,00,000, taken from the schedule inside rule 270.

The partial-disablement schedule is specific. Loss of all toes is 20 per cent; loss of both phalanges of the great toe is 5 per cent; loss of hearing in both ears is 50 per cent and in one ear 15 per cent; loss of four fingers and the thumb of one hand is 40 per cent; loss of four fingers alone is 35 per cent; loss of the thumb (both phalanges) is 25 per cent; the index finger ranges from 10 per cent for three phalanges to 4 per cent for one; the middle finger from 6 to 2 per cent; the ring finger from 5 to 2 per cent; the little finger from 4 to 2 per cent. Any other permanent partial disablement is paid at the percentage assessed by the examining doctor. Because the base is Rs 1,00,000, a 50 per cent assessment means Rs 50,000.

Separately, the Amendment Rules of 2012 added a compensatory allowance for the treatment period. A construction worker covered under the ESI Scheme gets 30 per cent of the minimum wage for the days spent under treatment in a Government or ESI-empanelled hospital, subject to a maximum of 30 days, because the ESI Corporation already reimburses 70 per cent of wages. A worker not covered by ESI gets the full minimum wage for the same maximum of 30 days.

Beneficiaries should not confuse this with the Board's separate medical assistance. Rule 276, as substituted in 2019, allows financial assistance up to Rs 3,00,000 for treatment of major ailments — brain, heart, kidney and cancer, insulin-dependent diabetes, and thalassaemia-cum-sickle cell, on the lines of the Odisha State Treatment Fund, and that is a different benefit with a different eligibility test.

Who is eligible for accident assistance in Odisha?

A worker can claim if all of the following hold.

1. The claimant is a registered beneficiary of OB&OCWWB, holding an identity card in Form XXVIII issued by the Registering Officer.
2. The claimant was between 18 and 60 years of age at registration and had worked at least 90 days in building or other construction work in the preceding 12 months.
3. The annual contribution of Rs 50 is paid up to date.
4. An accident has caused disablement, and a Government doctor has certified the nature and extent of it.

A worker cannot apply in these situations.

• An unregistered construction worker is not eligible. Registration must exist before the claim, and the Board does not register a worker retrospectively to cover an accident that has already happened.
• A beneficiary who defaulted on the Rs 50 annual contribution for three continuous years has ceased to be a beneficiary under rule 267(3) and is not eligible until membership is resumed on payment of arrears, which the rules permit only twice.
• A worker who was re-registered afresh after cessation cannot claim a benefit already availed during the earlier registration.
• Persons not engaged in building or other construction work fall outside the BOCW Act and are not eligible at all.
• Where the injury is fatal, the accident-disability slabs do not apply; the nominee claims death benefit of Rs 4,00,000 under rule 271 instead.

How to apply for OB&OCWWB accident assistance

1. Get the disability certified. Obtain a certificate from a Government doctor stating the injury, the body part affected and the percentage of permanent disablement. Collect the discharge summary and indoor case record from the hospital.
2. Assemble the file. Keep the Form XXVIII identity card, the latest annual contribution receipt, the disability certificate, hospital records, the FIR or site accident report if the accident happened on site or on the road, the employer's employment certificate, the bank passbook first page showing the IFSC, and the Aadhaar card.
3. Apply online. Open nirmanshramik.odisha.gov.in, use the Construction Worker Login, select the accident or disability assistance application, fill in the registration number and accident details, and upload each document as a legible scan.
4. Or apply offline. Submit the same application and documents at the office of the District Labour Officer of the district where you are registered. Rule 285-A requires the Board to make the forms available in Odia, and forms filled in Odia are valid for all purposes.
5. Attend verification. The Assistant Labour Officer or Labour Officer verifies employment, registration status and the medical papers, and may inspect the site or examine the employer.
6. Track the claim. Use the Application Tracking link on the portal home page with the application number, or ask the District Labour Office for the sanction position.

How do I check the status of my claim and get paid?

OB&OCWWB pays by direct transfer to the bank account recorded against the registration. Application Tracking on nirmanshramik.odisha.gov.in is the fastest check; it needs the application reference generated at submission. Where a claim has been sanctioned but money has not arrived, the usual cause is a mismatch between the account details in the registration record and the actual account, so update the passbook copy through the Construction Worker Login before escalating.

Why are accident claims rejected, and how do I fix it?

Registration lapse is the single most common reason. Rule 267 makes the Rs 50 annual contribution compulsory, and three continuous years of default ends membership. Pay arrears through the Pay Annual Contribution link on the portal and get the membership resumed before filing.

A vague medical certificate is the second. The schedule in rule 270 works on named body parts and percentages, so a certificate that says only "injured in accident" cannot be converted into a sanctioned amount. Ask the Government doctor to state the exact loss and the percentage.

Missing proof that the accident happened is the third. For a site accident, an FIR, the postmortem or injury report and an inquiry report by a Labour official not below the rank of Assistant Labour Officer are the documents the Board relies on; the same evidence set is prescribed for accidental death claims under rule 271.

Finally, fraud carries real consequences. Under rule 278(4) and rule 266(4), a claim built on fraudulent bills or duplicate receipts leads to recovery of the money under the Odisha Public Demands Recovery Act, cessation of membership, and action against the facilitator who helped file it.

What are the key dates and where do I complain?

There is no annual last date for accident assistance, the claim is filed when the accident and the medical certification have happened. What is time-bound is the Rs 50 annual contribution, which runs on the financial year defined in rule 248(g) and can be paid in advance at any point in the year.

For grievances, start with the District Labour Officer, who is the Registering Officer and the first authority on registration and claims. Above that sits the Labour Commissioner, Odisha, who is Member Secretary of the Board. Write to the Odisha Building & Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board, Office of the Labour Commissioner, Unit-3, Kharavel Nagar, Bhubaneswar, telephone 0674-3120552, email obocwwboard@yahoo.com. Departmental oversight rests with the Labour & ESI Department at labour.odisha.gov.in.