BOCW Ex-gratia Scheme (Punjab)

What is the BOCW Ex-gratia Scheme in Punjab?

BOCW Ex-gratia Scheme is Welfare Scheme No. 2 of the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, the statutory body set up by the Department of Labour, Punjab. The Board was constituted by Punjab Government notification S.O.17/C.A.27/96/S.18/2/2009 dated 30 April 2009 under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, and its welfare schemes are approved under Rule 265 of the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers Rules, 2008.

The scheme exists for a blunt reason. Construction is among the most dangerous occupations in Punjab, and a fall from scaffolding, an electrocution or a collapsing trench can end a household's only income in an afternoon. BOCW Ex-gratia Scheme converts the cess collected from construction projects into a lump-sum payment to that household. The Board's own figures show it had received Rs 1,195.76 crore in cess up to 30 June 2018 and had spent about Rs 608.82 crore across its welfare schemes and administration, with 7.48 lakh workers registered as beneficiaries by the same date.

According to the Board's scheme document, the current rates have applied with effect from 30 March 2015.

How much money does the Punjab BOCW ex-gratia pay?

Partial disability is the part most families misread. The Board does not pay a flat sum. It converts the percentage on the Civil Surgeon's certificate into money at a fixed rate of Rs 4,000 per percentage point. A 15 percent assessment yields Rs 60,000, a 45 percent assessment yields Rs 1,80,000, and only a 100 percent assessment reaches the Rs 4 lakh ceiling.

Payment is made by direct transfer into the bank account of the claimant, in line with the Board's stated mission of routing benefits straight into beneficiaries' accounts rather than through intermediaries.

Who can claim the BOCW ex-gratia in Punjab?

You can claim if:

• The worker was a registered beneficiary of the Punjab BOCW Welfare Board at the time of the incident. Registration requires a construction worker aged 18 to 60 who has done building or other construction work in Punjab for at least 90 days in the preceding 12 months.
• The worker had been depositing the monthly contribution of Rs 10 and the registration had not lapsed. Registration is taken for a minimum of one year and a maximum of five years at a time, on payment of a one-time fee of Rs 25.
• In a death case, you fall within "family" as defined in Rule 2(t) of the Punjab BOCW Rules, 2008, the husband or wife, minor sons including major sons who are insane or physically handicapped and unable to earn, unmarried daughters, and the parents of the building worker who are solely dependent on him.
• In a disability case, the Civil Surgeon's office has certified complete or partial disablement with a percentage figure.

You are not eligible if:

• The worker was drawing benefit under the ESI scheme. The Board's note on Welfare Scheme No. 2 states plainly that an ESI beneficiary shall not be entitled to benefit under the Ex-gratia Scheme.
• The worker held a health card under Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna and the claim is for accidental death or total disability. Those two events are covered separately under BPSSBY, where the insurance company pays Rs 5 lakh. A BPSSBY card holder is therefore not covered under the ex-gratia scheme for those specific events.
• The worker was never registered with the Board, or the registration had lapsed because contributions stopped. An unregistered construction worker cannot apply, and registration cannot be done retrospectively after the incident.
• You are a relative outside the Rule 2(t) definition, a married daughter, a brother, a nephew or a non-dependent parent cannot apply in place of the defined family.

How to apply for the BOCW Ex-gratia Scheme in Punjab

1. Confirm the worker's registration status. Retrieve the beneficiary registration number. If the worker was registered offline and no online number exists, use the facility on the bocw.punjab.gov.in home page to generate the registration number using the old registration number with either the Aadhaar number or the registered mobile number; the number arrives by SMS.
2. Collect the certificates. Obtain the death certificate from the Registrar of Births and Deaths. For an accidental death, also obtain an attested copy of the DDR, the FIR or the post-mortem report. For a disability claim, obtain the disablement certificate with the percentage of disability from the office of the district Civil Surgeon.
3. Go to the nearest Sewa Kendra with the registration card, the certificates, proof of relationship, and the claimant's bank passbook. The Board has integrated its web portal with the Punjab Sewa portal, so the Sewa Kendra operator files the claim on bocw.punjab.gov.in and uploads the scanned documents.
4. Alternatively, approach the area labour officer — the Assistant Labour Commissioner, the Labour-cum-Conciliation Officer, the Labour Inspector or the Labour Enforcement Officer of your area, who is authorised to route the application onto the portal.
5. Collect the acknowledgement carrying the application number. Without it you cannot track the claim.
6. Follow the verification chain. As with the Board's other welfare schemes, the application is verified by the committee constituted at sub-divisional level and approved by the Deputy Commissioner, after which the sanctioned list goes to the Board for direct transfer of the amount into the bank account.

How do you check the status of a Punjab BOCW ex-gratia claim?

1. Open bocw.punjab.gov.in.
2. Select Check your Scheme Application Status and log in with the beneficiary registration number.
3. The screen shows whether the claim is pending with the sub-divisional committee, pending with the Deputy Commissioner, sanctioned, or rejected.

The same portal also offers Check your Registration Application Status, Download Id Card and Download Registration Card, which are useful when a claim is held up because the registration record itself is incomplete. A challan can be generated on the portal for pending registration or renewal fees, payable to the Punjab Construction Workers Welfare Board account, IFSC PUNB0324800.

Why do Punjab BOCW ex-gratia claims get rejected?

• Lapsed registration. The single most common cause. Monthly contributions of Rs 10 stopped, the registration period expired, and the worker was no longer a beneficiary on the date of the incident. Renewal, with penalty where applicable, is done through the challan facility on the portal.
• No Civil Surgeon certificate. A private hospital's disability assessment is not a substitute; the Board requires the certificate from the Civil Surgeon's office.
• Accidental death claimed without police or post-mortem evidence. Where no DDR, FIR or post-mortem report is uploaded, the claim can only be processed at the natural-death rate of Rs 3 lakh rather than Rs 4 lakh.
• Claimant outside the Rule 2(t) family. Applications by married daughters, siblings or non-dependent relatives fail on this ground.
• Overlap with ESI or BPSSBY. An ESI beneficiary is excluded outright, and a BPSSBY card holder is excluded for accidental death and total disability.
• Wrong or inactive bank account, which stops the direct transfer even after sanction. Correct the account details with the Sewa Kendra and the payment is re-attempted.

What if the claim is rejected?

The Board's rules provide an internal appeal route. Under the Board's pension scheme rules, where an application is rejected by the SDM-level committee under the Deputy Commissioner, the beneficiary may appeal to the Secretary of the Board within 60 days, and the Secretary may condone a delay of up to one year if satisfied with the reasons. The rule also records that an application shall not be rejected without a personal hearing, and that the Secretary's decision is final. Families whose ex-gratia claim is rejected should ask the sanctioning officer in writing for the ground of rejection and file the appeal against that specific ground.

Where do you get help with this scheme?

• Portal: bocw.punjab.gov.in, which carries the Welfare Schemes menu, the Forms and Procedures section, a HelpDesk link, a Telephone Directory of Board and Labour Department officers, and the FAQs page.
• Sewa Kendra: the front office for filing and for correcting registration records.
• Area labour officer: Assistant Labour Commissioner, Labour-cum-Conciliation Officer, Labour Inspector or Labour Enforcement Officer.

Registration with the Board costs Rs 25 once and Rs 10 a month. No agent has any authority to charge a family a commission on an ex-gratia claim, and the money is credited directly to the claimant's own bank account.