280 construction accidents in 6 years in Gujarat, 313 workers killed, CAG’s damning report

The report of ‘Welfare of building and other construction workers in Gujarat’ published by Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ending March 2022, revealed that the state’s Construction Workers’ Welfare Board did not even set up a welfare fund. In addition, since June 2011, the government had also not constituted an advisory committee.

As per the CAG report, providing old-age pensions to beneficiaries turning 60 was one of the welfare board’s primary responsibilities, yet since 2019 the pension scheme has remained suspended. Between 2017 and 2022, there were 280 construction site accidents across the state, leading to the deaths of 313 workers.

The CAG report stated that out of 31 welfare schemes run by the board or the state government between 2017 and 2022, 13 schemes (42 percent) were either shut down or suspended.

Old-age pensions and limited scheme coverage

Despite old-age pension being one of the board’s main tasks, the scheme was suspended in May 2019. Meanwhile, the ‘Shramik Annapurna Yojana’ was extended to nine districts of the state between 2017 and 2022, but it was absent in the remaining 24 districts. By the end of June 2024, the scheme had been extended to 19 districts.

The board has two major schemes to help registered workers purchase their own homes. However, from 2017 to 2022, only 37 beneficiaries received assistance under the housing scheme, and no beneficiaries were covered under the housing subsidy scheme.

Seven municipal corporations failed to submit reports

The CAG findings also revealed delays in sanctioning benefits under welfare schemes, unjust rejection of applications, and exclusion of eligible beneficiaries. The board had given crores of rupees under the ‘Corona Suraksha Kavach Yojana’ to seven municipal corporations for worker safety measures. By March 2023, utilisation certificates for ₹36 crore had not been submitted by four corporations, while no recovery action was taken for the unutilised grant of ₹12.5 crore with the other three corporations.

Safety lapses at construction sites

According to the CAG report, out of 50 selected construction sites inspected, 44 lacked ambulance rooms, 42 had no ambulance vans or tie-ups with nearby hospitals, 41 had no stretchers, and 11 had no first-aid boxes. Moreover, 40 sites lacked life-saving equipment. The CAG also pointed out flaws in the implementation of equipment transfer and recovery procedures.