Karnataka plans new system to increase workers' cess collection

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government is planning to introduce a new system to increase the collection of cess levied on builders under the Karnataka Construction and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.

At present, the government levies a 1 per cent cess on the cost of construction to be paid by builders who employ the labourers. This applies to buildings whose construction cost is above Rs 10 lakh.

At a meeting here on Saturday, Labour Minister Santhosh Lad observed that there were no new measures taken until now to improve cess collection. In fact, Lad said that the cess collection had decreased.

Previously, some experts had suggested implementation of Geographical Information System (GIS) to increase the cess receipts. Accordingly, the minister held a virtual meeting with six private vendors to employ GIS for cess collection. The government is expected to take an appropriate decision after reviewing the opinions of vendors.

Principal Secretary (Labour) Mohammad Mohsin told DH that cess collection is not happening correctly. He said some Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) collecting the cess are not transferring the money on time. "In some places, the process is online. In other places, it's still manual. We want to put some system in place to independently monitor the process," he said.

At present, the Board has around Rs 6,000 crore of cess accumulated over the years.