Shillong, Feb 28: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has highlighted lack of action by Autonomous District Councils regarding building plan approvals.
In its report covering the social and economic sectors and urban local bodies for the year ending March 31, 2023, the CAG has revealed that despite being designated as building plan approving authorities as of February 1, 2019, and April 15, 2021, the autonomous district councils failed to initiate the approval process for building plans.
According to the report, this non-compliance has led to uncontrolled construction activities within their jurisdiction, ultimately impacting labour cess collection opportunities.
The report also stated that audit observed that out of eight selected divisions pertaining to works departments, three divisions did not transfer the cess collected to the Welfare Board but instead remitted the same to the State Government Account.
“State Government could not ensure transfer of Labour Cess amounting to Rs 24.81 crore to the Board within 30 days of its collection as mandated,” the report stated.
According to the CAG, test check of records of the selected District Labour Offices showed that 790 inspections were conducted under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, , but only 10 inspection reports were found on record.
The Performance Audit was conducted to determine the extent of compliance to the Act, Cess Act, 1996 and Meghalaya Building and Other Construction Workers’ (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2008.
According to the CAG Report, as of March 2023, 25,163 migrant labourers were registered under MIRSS Act. 2020 in the four selected districts, however, none of them were registered under the BOCW Act.
The audit covered a period of five years from 2017-18 to 2021-22. The findings are highlighted below:
Meghalaya Urban Development Authority (MUDA) is collecting one per cent mandatory cess while approving building plans.
The report revealed that between August 2021 and March 2022, cess for Welfare of Building and other Construction Workers amounting to Rs. 21.04 crore was collected by MUDA from 130 owners contractors.
Audit test-checked 46 approvals (35 per cent) and observed that an amount of Rs. 7.50 lakh was short-realised due to calculation of the estimated cost of the building construction at rate less than that prescribed by the SoR 2021-22.
The CAG Report recommended that the District Labour Offices should be consulted regarding the requirement of additional manpower for better implementation of the BOCW Act, BOCW Cess Act, and the related Rules.
It also advised that inspection reports should be recorded for each and every inspection done by the Labour Inspector A common proforma in this regard may be given to all the District Labour Offices.
It was also suggested that a user-friendly IT application for registration of establishments engaged in construction activities, online submission of documents & deposit of labour cess, registration of workers, details of beneficiaries etc., may be developed for better monitoring.
