In response to the construction ban due to severe air pollution, the Delhi government announced financial assistance of ₹8,000 for over 90,000 registered construction workers affected by the restrictions.
The ban was enforced on November 18 under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb pollution levels.
Ashish Chandra Verma, the additional chief secretary (finance), presided over a Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board meeting where the decision was made.
According to an official statement, the Board resolved to release the ex-gratia amount to all eligible workers following due verification.
November 25, the date of a Supreme Court order, has been fixed as the cut-off for determining the live membership status of workers.
A total of 90,759 registered workers, identified as tentative beneficiaries, will receive the allowance through direct benefit transfer (DBT) to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. Physical verification will also be conducted to confirm their eligibility.
The beneficiaries are workers registered with the Board based on self-certification of having worked for at least 90 days in the preceding year. However, the self-certified information was not verified during registration.
To address this, a bilingual web portal link has been launched for workers to submit their details for verification. Additionally, SMS notifications have been sent to registered workers to complete the process.
This initiative follows a Supreme Court directive requiring NCR states to report on subsistence allowance payments to workers who lost employment due to the restrictions.
The court has scheduled a video conference with state chief secretaries on December 5 for further updates.
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