Financial Assistance for Construction of Toilet (UKBOCWWB), Uttarakhand

What is the toilet construction assistance for construction workers?

Financial Assistance for Construction of Toilet is a welfare scheme of the Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (UKBOCWWB), which functions under the Labour Department, Government of Uttarakhand. It gives a registered construction worker Rs 12,000 to build a toilet at his or her own home, paid in two instalments as the construction progresses. The scheme is listed in Hindi as Shauchalay Nirman Aarthik Sahayata Yojana.

The Welfare Board is constituted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996 and is funded by a cess collected from construction establishments. Its beneficiaries are the labourers, masons, plumbers, electricians and other workers engaged on building sites, roads, bridges, canals, dams, tunnels, pipelines, transmission lines and telecom towers. According to the Board's own dashboard, more than 7.1 lakh workers are registered with it, of whom over 5.5 lakh have been verified.

Toilet assistance sits alongside sanitation as a welfare priority rather than a construction subsidy in the usual sense. Construction workers move frequently and often live in temporary accommodation, and a permanent toilet at the family home is one of the more durable things the Board's fund can buy for them.

How much is paid and when?

The Board pays a total of Rs 12,000 in two instalments:

• First instalment: Rs 8,000, released after the departmental verification of the application is found correct.
• Second instalment: Rs 4,000, released after the toilet construction is complete. The worker must wait one month after completion and then apply again with the complete set of documents for the second instalment.

The second instalment is not automatic. It requires a fresh application, which is the step workers most often miss. A family that stops after receiving Rs 8,000 leaves the balance Rs 4,000 unclaimed.

Both instalments are credited directly to the worker's Aadhaar-linked bank account, so the account must be active and correctly seeded before applying.

Who is eligible for this assistance?

You can apply if:

• You are a construction worker registered with the Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, and your registration is current.
• You are building a toilet at your own home in Uttarakhand.
• You hold land documents for the plot on which the toilet is being built, a dakhil kharij, khatauni, registry or an equivalent land ownership certificate.
• You hold a permanent residence certificate for Uttarakhand.
• You have an Aadhaar-linked bank account in your own name.
• You can produce a photograph of the construction with yourself in it, showing pucca walls, a lintel roof, the tank, the water arrangement and the seat fitted.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are not registered with the Welfare Board, or your registration has lapsed and not been renewed. Registration and renewal are done at the nearest Shramik Suvidha Kendra or Jan Seva Kendra.
• You have already taken the same benefit under another scheme, or have an application pending in another department for the same purpose. The affidavit in the application is a sworn statement on exactly this point.
• You cannot produce land documents for the plot on which the toilet stands.
• Your photograph does not show the required features or does not include you in the frame.
• Your bank account is not linked to Aadhaar, so the direct transfer cannot be made.

Registration with the Board, not the type of work you do on any given day, is what decides eligibility. A worker who has been employed on MGNREGA construction work is also covered by the Board's welfare schemes where registered.

What documents are required?

How to apply for toilet construction assistance

1. Check that your registration is active. If your labour card has lapsed, renew it first; renewal is done at a Shramik Suvidha Kendra or Jan Seva Kendra. The scheme application will not proceed on a lapsed registration.
2. Gather your documents: labour card, Aadhaar, Aadhaar-linked bank passbook, self-declaration, land documents, permanent residence certificate and the affidavit that you have not taken the benefit elsewhere.
3. Take the photograph of the construction. You must be present in the photograph, and it must clearly show the pucca walls, the lintel roof, the tank, the water arrangement and the seat fitted.
4. Visit a Shramik Suvidha Kendra and have the operator file the online application for you. There is no separate self-service portal login for scheme applications; the Board's own website directs workers to the nearest labour facilitation centre.
5. Wait for the departmental verification. Once the department's check finds the application correct, the first instalment of Rs 8,000 is paid into your bank account.
6. Complete the construction, wait one month, and apply again with the full set of documents for the second instalment of Rs 4,000.

There is no fee payable to the Board for the application.

How to check the status of your application

The Board's website, ukbocw.uk.gov.in, carries two separate status links on its home page, one to check the status of a worker's registration and one to check the status of a scheme application. Use the second for this scheme. You will need the details recorded at the time of filing, which the Shramik Suvidha Kendra operator will have given you on the acknowledgement.

If the online status does not move, the next point of contact is the Labour Enforcement Officer or Registration Officer for your area, who routes applications to the Secretary of the Welfare Board, and then the Board office in Dehradun. The Board also runs a mobile app and a toll-free number.

Why applications get rejected

• Registration lapsed. A card that has not been renewed is the single most common reason a scheme application fails at the first check.
• Photograph incomplete, the worker not present in the frame, or the photograph not showing the pucca walls, lintel roof, tank, water arrangement and seat.
• Land documents missing. The Board requires proof of ownership of the plot on which the toilet is built.
• Benefit already taken elsewhere, or an application pending in another department for the same purpose.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-linked, which stops the transfer even after sanction.
• Second instalment never claimed; not a rejection as such, but the most common way workers end up with Rs 8,000 instead of Rs 12,000.

Most of these are fixable at the Shramik Suvidha Kendra where the application was filed: renew the card, retake the photograph correctly, or attach the missing land document and refile.

What other UKBOCWWB schemes cover a registered worker

A registered construction worker in Uttarakhand is eligible for a wider set of Board schemes, and it is worth knowing them because they share the same registration and the same filing route:

• Pension: Rs 1,000 per month on completing 60 years of age and Rs 1,500 per month on reaching 65, paid on a six-monthly basis against a life certificate verified by a gazetted officer.
• Family pension; Rs 500 per month to the surviving spouse of a deceased pensioner worker.
• Housing advance — up to Rs 50,000 as an advance loan for purchase or construction of a house, for a worker who has been a member of the fund for five years with at least 15 years left to superannuation, at a minimum of 5 per cent annual interest.
• Disability pension and ex-gratia, Rs 1,000 per month and an ex-gratia amount of up to Rs 40,000 for permanent disability caused by paralysis, leprosy or an accident, certified by a government CMO or CMS.
• Death assistance; Rs 4,00,000 where death occurs in an accident during employment and Rs 2,00,000 in the case of ordinary death, paid to the nominees or dependants, plus Rs 10,000 for funeral expenses. Both must be claimed within two months of the date of death.
• Education assistance for workers' children; Rs 1,800 a year for Classes 1 to 5, Rs 2,400 for Classes 6 to 10, Rs 3,000 for Classes 11 and 12 and Rs 10,000 a year for graduate and postgraduate study, with ITI and vocational courses covered at the annual fee of the government institute.
• Maternity benefit, tool-kit, cycle, solar energy, umbrella, sanitary napkin and skill upgradation schemes, and health insurance with the premium met from the Board's fund.

Help and where to raise a problem

• Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, third floor, GMVN Building, Rajpur Road, Dehradun 248001
• Toll-free number: 1800 2127 174
• Email, ukbocw@gmail.com
• Portal; ukbocw.uk.gov.in, which also carries the Board's mobile app
• Shramik Suvidha Kendra / Jan Seva Kendra, for registration, renewal and scheme applications
• Labour Enforcement Officer / Registration Officer for your area. The route through which applications reach the Secretary of the Welfare Board

Key facts to remember

• Rs 12,000 total, paid as Rs 8,000 first and Rs 4,000 second.
• The second instalment needs a fresh application one month after the toilet is completed.
• Applicants must be registered construction workers with an active UKBOCWWB registration.
• The photograph with the worker present, showing pucca walls, lintel roof, tank, water arrangement and seat, is a hard requirement.
• Applications are filed online through a Shramik Suvidha Kendra, not directly by the worker.
• The Board's toll-free helpline is 1800 2127 174.