LG office asks govt to set up Delhi labour welfare board

NEW DELHI: Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena has urged the state government to constitute the city’s labour welfare board with suitable members, and pointed out that the labour department had been working without the board for the past two years.

“The AAP government did not process the file for re-constitution of the Delhi Labour Welfare Board (DLWB) for more than 14 months, between June 2021 to September, 2022 and, even when it finally sent the proposal with names for approval of the LG on 12/09/2022, the names proposed by the then labour minister (Manish Sisodia) and approved by CM Arvind Kejriwal, were not as per the criterion for selection of such members. The members nominated to the board, instead of having any domain expertise with regards to labour welfare, were picked from among vaccination camp organisers, RWA presidents and relief food distributing individuals, etc,” an official in the LG office said.

The Delhi government did not respond to request for comment.

The labour welfare board is entrusted with the task of the welfare of the labourers in the capital by formulating labour welfare schemes with the purpose to improve the living conditions and economic status of the workers and their families.

Officials in the LG office said that Saxena had advised the labour department to submit a panel of names for appointment after thorough background check.

“Members of this board perform important functions of welfare of labourers and therefore, it is important that such members must possess sufficient experience in the field of labour welfare. Such nominated members must demonstrate skill and expertise which reveal their capabilities to contribute to the cause of labour welfare,” the LG said in his note on the file in September, the officials added.