Marriage Assistance for Construction Workers — Sikkim

What is marriage assistance for construction workers in Sikkim?

Marriage Assistance for Construction Workers is one of eight cash benefits that the Sikkim Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board pays to workers registered with it. The Board sits under the Labour Department, Government of Sikkim, at Shram Bhawan, Sokaythang, Gangtok, and is funded by the welfare cess collected from construction works under the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996.

According to Labour Department Notification No. 22/DL dated 14 June 2018, published in Sikkim Government Gazette Extraordinary No. 347 on 9 July 2018, the Board fixed a schedule of financial assistance for registered workers and their immediate dependants. Marriage appears at serial number 2 of that schedule with an amount of Rs 10,000. The notification was issued in compliance with the scheme framed under clause (h) of sub-section (1) of Section 22 of the BOCW Act, 1996, and it supersedes the earlier Notification No. 19/DL dated 18 May 2013.

The Board had earlier notified a list of 22 welfare schemes vide Notification No. 06/DL dated 12 March 2015. Item 14 of that list reads "Marriage of female workers and their female children (Kanyadan)". The 2018 rate notification is the document that actually fixes the money, and its "applicable to" column for the marriage row reads "Registered worker & their immediate dependants".

How much is paid, and to whom?

The complete financial assistance schedule notified in 2018 reads as follows.

A later notification, No. 24/DL dated 13 August 2018 in Gazette Extraordinary No. 424, inserted the words "One Time" against serial numbers 6 and 8 of that table.

The Labour Department's separate welfare schemes information sheet, published in April 2022 on its BOCW page, also lists a one-time pension of Rs 2,00,000, free education for the children of registered workers with hostel accommodation in Gangtok, and coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana and Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.

Who is eligible for the Sikkim BOCW marriage benefit?

You can claim if all of these are true.

• You are registered as a beneficiary of the Sikkim BOCW Welfare Board and hold the identity card issued in Form XXVIII under rule 266 of the Sikkim BOCW Rules, 2010.
• You were, at the time of registration, between 18 and 60 years of age. Rule 264 of the Rules states that every building worker who has completed 18 years but not 60 years, and who has completed 90 days of service as a building worker during the preceding 12 months, is eligible for registration.
• Your Rs 20 per month contribution to the Sikkim Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Fund is current.
• The marriage is that of the registered worker or of an immediate dependant. The Rules define a dependant as the husband or wife, minor sons and unmarried daughters of the building worker, and the parents solely dependent on the worker.
• You can produce a marriage certificate from the concerned authority.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, in these situations.

• You are an unregistered construction worker. The benefit is not available to workers who have never applied to the Beneficiary Registering Officer, no matter how long they have worked on Sikkim sites.
• You defaulted on the contribution for a continuous year. Rule 267(2) says such a beneficiary ceases to be a beneficiary of the Fund. Membership can be resumed on payment of arrears with the Secretary's permission, but not more than twice.
• The person marrying is not the worker or an immediate dependant as defined in the Rules, a nephew, a sibling's child or a non-dependent parent, for example.
• You were 60 years or older at registration, or had not completed 90 days of construction work in the preceding twelve months, so registration itself was never valid.
• You are a contractor or an employer rather than a building worker. The Board's schemes run to workers and beneficiaries, not to establishments.

What documents are needed for the claim?

Under the 2018 notification the marriage row requires three documents.

How to apply for marriage assistance in Sikkim

1. Register as a beneficiary first, if you have not already. Apply in Form XXVII to the Beneficiary Registering Officer authorised by the Sikkim BOCW Welfare Board. Rule 265 requires three small photographs, attested proof of date of birth from a school certificate, the Registrar of Births and Deaths, a local authority, a panchayat body, an MLA, an MP or a municipal councillor, the employer's certificate of engagement as a building worker, and documents showing payment of a registration fee of Rs 20.
2. Collect the identity card issued in Form XXVIII, and file a nomination in Form XXXI. Keep the Rs 20 per month contribution current; it is remitted once every three months at a bank specified by the Board in your district.
3. Obtain the marriage certificate from the concerned authority after the marriage, and a letter from your organisation or establishment.
4. Submit the claim to the concerned District Labour Officer, and send a copy of the information to Head Quarter, Labour Department, Shram Bhawan, Gangtok, East Sikkim. The 2018 notification prescribes exactly this routing.
5. Keep the acknowledgement and follow up with the district office or the BOCW Nodal Officer.

Who to contact in each district

The Labour Department's BOCW welfare schemes sheet publishes contact numbers for workers:

• BOCW Nodal Officer to 70769-26998
• East to 90643-89842
• Pakyong to 90028-33969
• South — 96098-63959
• West to 95477-16798
• North to 96359-98441
• Toll free helpline for labourers to 1800-345-1474

The Labour Department headquarters can be reached on 03592-201474 and at sikkimlabour@gmail.com, at Shram Bhawan, Sokaythang, Gangtok.

Why marriage assistance claims get rejected

• Registration lapsed because contributions were not paid for a continuous year.
• No marriage certificate from the concerned authority, only photographs or an invitation card.
• The person married is not an immediate dependant under the definition in the Rules.
• No letter from the establishment, which the notification lists as the first required document for every claim category.
• Claim filed at the wrong office, for example directly at headquarters without routing it through the District Labour Officer.

Where a claim is refused, rule 271(6) of the Sikkim BOCW Rules, 2010 provides an appeal route to the Board within 60 days of receiving the order, and the Board's decision on the appeal is final. The same 30-day appeal right applies against a refusal to register you as a beneficiary under rule 266(2).

How to check your marriage assistance application status

The Sikkim BOCW Welfare Board does not run an online tracking portal for individual welfare claims, so status checking for the marriage benefit is done directly through the office that received the claim, not through a website login.

1. Call or visit the District Labour Officer where you submitted the claim. Keep the acknowledgement or receiving stamp from your submission ready; the office refers to it to locate your file and tell you whether the claim is under verification, forwarded to the Board, sanctioned, or returned for a missing document.
2. Contact your district's BOCW helpline number if a visit is not convenient. The Labour Department publishes district-wise numbers for this purpose: East 90643-89842, Pakyong 90028-33969, South 96098-63959, West 95477-16798, and North 96359-98441. Quote your beneficiary identity card number (Form XXVIII) and the approximate date you filed the claim.
3. Call the BOCW Nodal Officer on 70769-26998 if the district office cannot give a clear update, since the Nodal Officer coordinates claims between the districts and the Board headquarters at Shram Bhawan, Gangtok.
4. Use the toll-free labour helpline, 1800-345-1474, for a general check or if you are unable to reach the district or nodal numbers.
5. Write to the Labour Department headquarters at sikkimlabour@gmail.com or visit Shram Bhawan, Sokaythang, Gangtok, if the claim has been pending well beyond a normal processing period and the district office has not resolved it. Since claims are copied to headquarters at the time of filing, the department can confirm receipt independently of the district file.

Because there is no SMS or portal-based status update for this scheme, keeping the paper acknowledgement from the day the claim was filed is the single most useful thing an applicant can do. It is the reference every office above will ask for before checking any record.