Rs 6 cr welfare fund diverted, labour board put on notice

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 2

The office of Principal Accountant General (Audit), Punjab, has issued a fresh notice to the Punjab Building and Other Construction Workers’ (BOCW) Welfare Board this week for not spending the welfare fund for the designated purpose.

The Labour Welfare Board has been asked to give the latest status of the decision regarding the refund of Rs 6.61 crore to the audit.

The welfare board had deposited Rs 6.61 crore to the Punjab Skill Development Mission in May 2016 for the construction of four skill development centres at Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Mohali. The welfare board didn’t disclose the same in its financial dossier to the audit.

Notably, the construction of all four centres had to be stopped in view of the guidelines of the Government of India in June 2016 because the board did not release further payments to the Punjab Skill Development Mission and had to take the matter of refund of Rs 6.61 crore with the Punjab Skill Development Mission. Meanwhile, the Labour Department, in July 2021, earmarked Rs 17.91 crore from the Labour Welfare Board to complete the remaining work of the skill centres claiming they had received approval from the central government. However, the office of Principal Accountant General (Audit), Punjab, said no approval had been received so far. Jatinder Pal Singh, deputy secretary, BOCW Welfare board, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Centre’s directions

• The office of Principal Accountant General (Audit) invoked the directive of the central government in its notice
• It said on the direction of Supreme Court, the Centre had asked the state welfare boards not to spend the cess on any other schemes