Rajasthan Silicosis Policy

What is the Rajasthan Silicosis Policy?

Rajasthan Silicosis Policy is the state's dedicated framework for identifying, certifying, compensating and rehabilitating workers who develop silicosis, an incurable lung disease caused by breathing in fine crystalline silica dust. Rajasthan was the first state in India to adopt a standalone silicosis policy, and the policy is administered jointly by the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, the Medical and Health Department, the Department of Mines and Geology, and the Labour Department.

Silicosis matters disproportionately in Rajasthan because of the state's sandstone quarries, marble and granite cutting units, quartz and feldspar grinding, slate mining, glass manufacturing and stone-crushing work. Workers in these trades inhale silica dust for years, and the scarring it causes in the lungs is permanent. There is no cure, so the policy's design is deliberately about certification, cash assistance and rehabilitation of the family rather than treatment alone.

The policy's single most important design choice is that assistance is triggered by a medical certificate, not by proving who your employer was. Under the older workmen's compensation route, a stone-cutter who had worked for a dozen contractors over twenty years usually could not prove liability against any of them, and got nothing. Rajasthan's policy removes that barrier: once a district pneumoconiosis board certifies the disease, the state pays.

Who is eligible under the Rajasthan Silicosis Policy?

You can claim if:

• You are a resident of Rajasthan.
• You have worked in a silica-dust-exposed occupation; mining, quarrying, stone cutting or dressing, quartz or feldspar grinding, sandstone or slate work, stone crushing, glass or ceramic manufacture, foundry work, or construction work involving stone dust.
• A district pneumoconiosis (silicosis) board has examined you and certified silicosis on the basis of a digital chest X-ray and clinical findings.
• You hold a Jan Aadhaar card and an Aadhaar-seeded bank account in your own name for the Direct Benefit Transfer.

Dependants can also claim. Where a certified silicosis patient dies, the next of kin; spouse first, then dependent children or parents — claims the post-death assistance. Dependent children of a deceased certified patient are separately routed to the Palanhar scheme for maintenance and education support.

You are not eligible if:

• You have not been certified by a district pneumoconiosis board. A private hospital report, a CT scan from a diagnostic chain, or a doctor's letter cannot substitute for the board's certificate, however clear the finding.
• Your condition is diagnosed as tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or another lung condition without silicosis. These are treated under regular health programmes, not this policy.
• You are not a resident of Rajasthan, even if the exposure happened in a Rajasthan mine. Cross-state cases are handled case by case and should be raised with the district collectorate.
• A claim on the same certificate has already been settled. The one-time assistance is payable once per certified patient, not once per year.

What benefits does the Rajasthan Silicosis Policy provide?

The headline figure readers most often ask about is the Rs 3 lakh paid on certification and the Rs 2 lakh paid to the family afterwards, together Rs 5 lakh over the course of a case. The monthly pension is paid through the state social security pension system, because a certified silicosis patient is treated as a person with disability for pension purposes.

Funding for the policy draws substantially on the District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT) funds in mining districts and on the state's environment and health cess, which is why district collectors have an operational role in clearing payments.

How to get certified and claim silicosis assistance in Rajasthan

1. Go to a government hospital or designated health facility in your district and tell the doctor you have worked in stone, mining or dust-exposed work and want to be screened for silicosis. Take your Aadhaar and Jan Aadhaar cards.
2. Get the digital chest X-ray done at the government facility. This is free. The X-ray, not a private scan, is the record the board reads.
3. Have your case registered on the state silicosis system by the hospital staff, so that it is queued for the district pneumoconiosis board rather than sitting as an ordinary OPD file.
4. Appear before the district pneumoconiosis board on its sitting date. The board examines the X-ray and the patient and records a finding. If silicosis is confirmed, a silicosis certificate is issued.
5. Give your bank and Jan Aadhaar details for the Direct Benefit Transfer of the one-time assistance. The account must be in the patient's own name and seeded with Aadhaar.
6. Apply for the monthly pension through the social security pension system, attaching the silicosis certificate, at your e-Mitra kiosk or through the Social Justice and Empowerment Department's district office.
7. For a death claim, the family submits the death certificate along with the original silicosis certificate to the district office to release the Rs 2 lakh assistance and the funeral amount.

How do you check the status of a silicosis claim?

Rajasthan tracks silicosis cases digitally from the point the hospital registers them, so the case number given at the hospital is the number to quote. Status can be checked at the e-Mitra kiosk, at the district Social Justice and Empowerment office, or on the Jan Soochna portal, which publishes beneficiary and scheme information for the state's welfare programmes.

Payments already released show up as DBT credits in the Aadhaar-seeded bank account. If the board has certified the case but no credit has arrived, the account seeding is the first thing to check at the bank branch.

Why do silicosis claims get rejected or delayed?

• The X-ray was done privately. The board reads the government digital X-ray; an outside film usually means repeating the step.
• Board sitting not attended. A case queued but with the patient absent on the sitting date is carried over, sometimes by weeks.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT fails and the payment bounces back even after certification.
• Account in a family member's name. The assistance is paid into the certified patient's own account while the patient is alive.
• Jan Aadhaar mismatch. The name or date of birth on Jan Aadhaar differs from Aadhaar, which stalls the pension linkage even when the certificate is valid.
• Diagnosis recorded as tuberculosis. Silicosis and TB often occur together, and where the record notes only TB the silicosis claim does not open. Ask specifically for a silicosis screening.

Where do you complain about a silicosis case?

• Rajasthan Sampark helpline: 181, the state's single grievance line, which registers a complaint number you can track.
• Rajasthan Sampark portal for a written grievance against a district office or hospital.
• District Collector's office, which chairs the district-level machinery in mining districts and controls the DMFT funds used for payments.
• Labour Department helpline: 1800-180-6127 for questions tied to labour registration and construction-worker records.

Certification and assistance under the Rajasthan Silicosis Policy are free at every stage. No fee is payable for the X-ray, for the board's examination, or for the certificate itself, and any demand for money to "get the certificate passed" should be reported on 181 immediately.