Accident Medical Assistance Scheme (Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board)

What is the Accident Medical Assistance Scheme for construction workers?

The Accident Medical Assistance Scheme is a welfare benefit of the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which functions under the Labour Department, Government of Puducherry. Under the scheme, a registered construction worker who sustains a fracture is paid Rs 1,500 per month until the worker becomes physically fit to resume normal work, supported by medical certificates issued by a government doctor.

The Board was constituted in 2002 under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and the associated cess Act. It has enlisted 53 categories of construction workers for enrolment, which covers most of the trades on a building site; masons, carpenters, bar benders, painters, plumbers, electricians, helpers and the rest.

The logic of the benefit is specific to construction work. A fracture is the characteristic injury of the trade: falls from scaffolding, dropped loads, crushed hands. A daily-wage worker with a fracture loses income for the whole healing period, which for a limb fracture is typically several months, and the Board's payment is designed to run for exactly that period rather than for a fixed term.

Who can claim, and who cannot?

You can claim if:

• You are a registered beneficiary of the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, with a live registration.
• You have sustained a fracture.
• You are unfit to resume normal work as a result, and a government doctor will certify that.
• Your subscription to the Board is up to date. Benefits run to workers whose beneficiary status is current.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not registered with the Board. This is the single biggest barrier in practice. Thousands of construction workers in the union territory work for years without registering, and discover the gap only when they are injured. Registration cannot be done retrospectively to cover a past injury.
• Your registration has lapsed for non-payment of subscription and has not been revived.
• The injury is not a fracture and does not prevent you from working. Other medical needs are addressed by the Board's separate medical assistance benefit, and permanent disablement by the disablement benefit.
• You cannot produce a government doctor's certificate. A private hospital bill alone will not carry the claim.

Who is eligible to register with the Board in the first place?

Registration is the gateway to this and every other Board benefit, so it deserves its own answer.

Every building worker between 18 and 60 years of age who has been engaged in any building or other construction work for not less than 90 days during the last 12 months is eligible for registration as a beneficiary of the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Fund. The application form can be obtained free of cost from the office of the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.

A worker who registers early, keeps the subscription current and keeps the card safe has access to the Board's full range of benefits from the day the need arises. A worker who does not, has none.

How much is paid, and for how long?

The assistance is Rs 1,500 per month. It is not a lump sum and not a fixed number of instalments.

The payment continues until the worker becomes physically fit to resume normal work. That means the length of the benefit is determined by the medical evidence, not by a schedule. A wrist fracture that heals in eight weeks yields a shorter period than a femur fracture that keeps a worker off site for six months.

Because the duration is medically determined, periodic certificates matter. The Board pays on the strength of medical certificates issued by a government doctor, so a worker whose treatment runs long should obtain a fresh certificate at each review rather than relying on the first one.

Payments are made through direct benefit transfer into the worker's bank account, in line with the Board's practice for its other benefits.

How to apply for the accident medical assistance

1. Get treated at a government hospital where possible. The certificate the Board needs must come from a government doctor, so treatment in the government system makes the paperwork straightforward.
2. Obtain the medical certificate stating the fracture and the period for which you are unfit to resume normal work. Ask for it explicitly in those terms; a discharge summary alone is often not enough.
3. Check that your Board registration is live and that your subscription is up to date. Clear any arrears before you file, since a lapsed registration stops the claim.
4. Collect the supporting records: X-ray report, discharge summary, prescriptions, your Board identity card, Aadhaar and bank passbook copy.
5. File the claim at the office of the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Labour Department, Government of Puducherry. Application forms are issued free of cost by the Board's office.
6. Take a dated acknowledgement with an inward number and keep it for every follow-up.
7. Submit fresh medical certificates as the treatment continues, and a fitness certificate when you resume work, so that the payment period is correctly closed.

How do you check the status of a claim?

Follow-up is done at the Board's office. Quote the inward number and the date of the claim. Payments appear as credits in the bank account seeded with the Board, so check the passbook or the bank's SMS alerts rather than waiting for a letter.

Workers in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam should file and follow up through the Labour Department office of their region, which forwards cases to the Board.

Why do claims get rejected, and how do you avoid it?

• Worker not registered with the Board. The commonest and most painful ground. Register now, before an injury, not after.
• Subscription in arrears. Keep the subscription current; a lapsed beneficiary is outside every Board benefit, not just this one.
• No government doctor's certificate. Private treatment is not disqualifying in itself, but the certificate the Board acts on must come from a government doctor. Get one even if the treatment was private.
• Certificate silent on fitness to work. The certificate must speak to the period of unfitness, not merely to the diagnosis.
• Injury that is not a fracture. Route it to the Board's general medical assistance benefit or, in the case of permanent disability, to the disablement benefit.
• Bank details wrong or account dormant. The Board pays by direct benefit transfer, so a dormant account stops the money after sanction. Reactivate it and inform the Board.
• Long gap between injury and claim. Records get harder to obtain and the certified period harder to establish. File as soon as treatment is under way.

What else does the Board pay for?

According to the Labour Department, the Board extends maternity benefit, medical assistance, scholarships to the wards of registered workers, a Deepavali gift, death benefit for both natural and accidental death, funeral assistance, insurance premium to LIC on fresh policies and renewals, marriage assistance, medical accident benefit, and refund of subscription fee.

Two of these carry figures worth knowing. The Disablement Benefit Scheme extends financial assistance of Rs 75,000 on the strength of a disablement certificate issued by the competent authority, credited through direct benefit transfer. The Natural Death Benefit Scheme covers the family of a worker who dies of natural causes.

A worker whose fracture leaves a permanent impairment should therefore look at the disablement benefit as well as this monthly assistance, since they address different consequences of the same accident.

Where do you get help or complain?

• Contact the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board at the Labour Department, Government of Puducherry. Scheme details and forms are published on labour.py.gov.in.
• Workers in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam should approach the Labour Department office of their region.
• An unresolved grievance can be filed on CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in against the Government of Puducherry, Labour Department.

Registration forms and claim forms are issued free of cost by the Board. No contractor, agent or middleman should be paid to register a worker or to file a claim, and any such demand should be reported to the Labour Department.