Delhi made no efforts to register construction workers for compensation - SC
This story was originally published at 19:00 IST on 5 December 2024
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NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Delhi government for not making any efforts to register construction workers on its portal for paying subsistence allowance following the ban on construction activity in the Delhi-National Capital Region to reduce pollution. The court threatened to issue contempt of court against Delhi Chief Secretary Dharmendra for not paying the full subsistence allowance to construction workers.
"When will you pay the balance amount? You want workers to starve? We are straight away issuing a contempt notice to you, this is not done," the court said after the chief secretary said the Delhi government would need 10 days to make full payments.
The chief secretary assured the court that the Delhi government would pay the remaining amount on Friday. Though the workers are entitled to INR 8,000 each per month, the Delhi government has paid only INR 2,000 each till now.
After the chief secretary said 90,693 construction workers were registered on the Delhi government's portal, the court asked whether there were only 90,000 construction workers in Delhi, and who would do the exercise of identifying the remaining workers. "Have you published a single notice to get workers to register themselves on the portal?" the court asked, to which the chief secretary replied in the negative.
"You (Delhi government) seem to be blissfully unaware that there are more workers," said the top court. "From what it appears to us based on what the chief secretary said, the Delhi government is not aware there may be more workers," the court said. It asked the Delhi government to hold meetings with workers' unions immediately to get all construction workers to register on the portal.
The Supreme Court had called the chief secretaries of Delhi-National Capital Region for a virtual conference to review the payment of subsistence allowances to construction workers. The court was hearing a case regarding rising air pollution levels in Delhi-NCR, which comprises Delhi and districts surrounding it from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
The bench of Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih asked Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to follow the directions issued to the Delhi government regarding payment of construction workers. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Saji George Titus
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