Maternity Financial Assistance (UKBOCWWB) - Uttarakhand

What is Maternity Financial Assistance under UKBOCWWB?

Maternity Financial Assistance, listed in the Board's Hindi scheme index as Matritva Hit Labh Yojana, is a cash benefit run by the Uttarakhand Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (UKBOCWWB) under the Labour Department, Government of Uttarakhand. The scheme gives a registered woman construction worker money at the point where her earnings stop: around childbirth.

According to the scheme details published for UKBOCWWB, Maternity Financial Assistance pays Rs 6,000 per child, and the benefit is admissible only for the birth of up to two children. A woman who claims for both her first and second deliveries therefore receives a total of Rs 12,000 over her working life. The payment is a one-time amount per delivery, not a monthly allowance.

The scheme sits inside the wider UKBOCWWB welfare package, which is financed by the 1 per cent construction cess collected from building establishments under the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Cess Act, 1996. Maternity assistance is scheme number 10 in the Board's own list of sixteen schemes, which also covers pension, disability pension, death and funeral assistance, health insurance, tool kits, cycles, solar lights and sanitary napkins.

Who is eligible for UKBOCWWB maternity assistance?

You can claim if:

• You are a woman construction worker registered with UKBOCWWB, that is, you hold a valid shramik card issued by the Board.
• Your registration is live on the date of delivery. The labour card is valid for three years and needs a Rs 100 contribution to be renewed for each further three-year block.
• The claim is for your first or second child.
• You file the claim within one year of delivery.
• You have not taken maternity assistance from any other department for the same delivery.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You are not registered with the Board, or your labour card has lapsed and has not been reinstated.
• The claim is for a third or subsequent child. The two-child limit is absolute.
• You are the wife of a registered male construction worker but are not yourself registered. The benefit attaches to the registered woman worker only.
• More than one year has passed since the delivery.
• You have already drawn a maternity benefit from another government department for the same childbirth, which the self-declaration is designed to catch.

Registration itself is open to construction workers aged 18 to 60 who have worked at least 90 days as a construction worker in the previous year, so a woman who is not yet registered should first get her labour card made and then claim maternity assistance for a later delivery.

What documents are needed?

The ANC card matters more than applicants expect. It is the document that ties the pregnancy to a registered health facility and gives the department an independent date to check the delivery certificate against.

How to apply for UKBOCWWB maternity assistance

1. Collect the delivery certificate from the medical officer and keep the ANC card and your shramik card together.
2. Visit the nearest Shramik Suvidha Kendra, which files the online application for you. There is no self-service portal form for this claim.
3. Attach the shramik card, ANC card, medical officer's delivery certificate and the self-declaration stating that no assistance has been taken from any other department for the same delivery.
4. Make sure the application is submitted within one year from the date of delivery, and that the claim is for the first or second child only.
5. Collect the acknowledgement or reference number from the operator before you leave.
6. The department verifies the application. If it is found correct, the sanctioned amount is transferred directly to the bank account of the construction worker.

Workers in remote blocks who cannot reach a Shramik Suvidha Kendra should approach the Registration Officer or Labour Enforcement Officer of their area, who handles the Board's paperwork for the district and can route the application onward.

How much money is paid and when?

Maternity Financial Assistance pays Rs 6,000 for each of up to two children. There is no instalment structure — the amount is sanctioned once per delivery after verification and released by direct transfer to the worker's own bank account. Because payment is by bank transfer, the account must be in the woman worker's name and seeded with the same Aadhaar number recorded on her shramik card. A joint account in a husband's name or a name spelt differently from Aadhaar is the single most common reason a sanctioned amount fails to land.

Timelines for verification depend on the district office. The Board's citizen charter under the Uttarakhand Right to Service Act, 2011 fixes 30 working days for registration and renewal services; benefit claims are processed after document verification by the Registration Officer and sanction by the Secretary of the Welfare Board.

Why maternity claims get rejected

• Claim filed after one year from the date of delivery.
• Lapsed labour card. The registration had expired on the date of delivery and the Rs 100 renewal contribution had not been paid.
• No ANC card, or an ANC card that does not match the delivery date on the medical officer's certificate.
• Third or later child, which falls outside the two-child limit.
• Duplicate benefit already drawn from another department for the same delivery.
• Bank account not in the worker's own name or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the transfer fails after sanction.

Most of these are curable. A lapsed card can be reinstated with the permission of the authorised officer on payment of the outstanding contribution, but the Board allows reinstatement only twice, so it is better to renew on time.

Key dates to remember

• Labour card validity: three years from registration, renewable for Rs 100.
• Claim window: one year from the date of delivery.
• Child limit: first and second child only.

Grievance and contact

• UKBOCWWB toll-free number: 1800 2127 174
• Board office: Third Floor, GMVN Building, Rajpur Road, Dehradun 248001
• Status check: the scheme application status link on ukbocw.uk.gov.in
• Escalation: Registration Officer or Labour Enforcement Officer of the area, then the Assistant Labour Commissioner and Deputy Labour Commissioner

No fee is charged by the Board for filing a maternity claim. Only the government-notified service charge of the Shramik Suvidha Kendra applies, and no agent can charge for "getting the maternity money sanctioned".