Bogus labour cards swell to 1.5L, Karnataka govt plans crackdown

Bengaluru: With the government identifying a massive 1.5 lakh bogus Karmika cards, the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Board will soon initiate a statewide drive to track the actual number of such ineligible labourers.

A person must have been a construction worker for 90 days in a year to become eligible for a Karmika card, which provides access to various benefits such as pension, housing subsidy, accident relief, assistance with children's education and so on.

A board official told DH that a tender has been called to hire agencies to tour all districts and verify the authenticity of the Karmika cards provided to all building and other construction workers registered under the board. 

"While renewing the cards, we will ascertain the validity of cardholders by checking their Aadhaar numbers and verifying whether they have completed the mandatory 90 days of work over the previous 12 months," Principal Secretary (Labour) Mohammed Mohsin said.

The proposal comes amid suspicion that several labour cards are fake. In December 2023, DH reported that 90,091 cards had been issued to ineligible persons between 2020 and 2023, according to official data. 

Earlier this year, Labour Minister Santhosh Lad told the Legislative Assembly that 60-70 per cent of the labour cards were fake and that he needed time to "cleanse" the system. 

There are 38.44 lakh registered workers under the board. This includes 27.7 lakh active workers and 10.73 lakh workers on a one-year buffer. If the members don't renew their cards after two years, they are considered inactive. The board has enlisted 13,47,891 inactive workers.

A cess of 1 per cent levied on private and government construction goes into the welfare fund. According to the department's statistics, an overall cess of Rs 11,770 crore has been collected since the board's inception in 2007. Of this, Rs 5,272 crore has been spent on welfare schemes.

P P Appanna, State President of the Karnataka Pragathipara Kattada Karmikara Sangha, disputed the official figures of bogus cards and said the actual numbers are much higher. "The number could be around 25 lakh," he said.

"Since the unorganised workers welfare board doesn't have a cess fund of its own, several maidservants, autorickshaw drivers, barbers, washermen and so on are made to register under the construction workers' board by officials," he said, adding that the only solution was to levy a cess for the welfare of unorganised sector workers.

Highlights - Workforce l Registered construction workers 51,92,042 l Active construction workers 27,70,950 l Workers on one-year buffer 10,73,202 l Inactive construction workers 13,47,891