The Hindu Bureau
NEW DELHI
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday accused the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of having an “anti-worker mindset” and demanded a probe into why ₹5,200 crore in the labour welfare fund was left unused while thousands of construction workers awaited essential benefits.
Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, she urged that the matter be referred to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and called for strict action against all officials and ministers responsible for the lapse.
“The ₹5,200 crore remained idle while the working class waited for relief,” Ms. Gupta said during a discussion on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report for the year ending March 31, 2023, on the ‘Welfare of Building and Other Construction Workers’. She alleged that despite workers’ rightful access to welfare schemes, lakhs were deprived of entitlements.
Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta referred the report, along with two other CAG reports presented in the House on August 4, to the PAC.
Fee imposed
Ms. Gupta noted that while the Central government provides registration and renewal services for workers free of charge, the previous Delhi government imposed a ₹25 fee for registration and a ₹20 fee for renewal. “This unnecessary burden led to a situation where only 7% of workers’ data was renewed annually in Delhi, compared to 100% renewal at the national level,” she said.
Quoting the CAG report, Ms. Gupta pointed out that funds earmarked for maternity benefits, disability support, tool purchases, housing assistance, family pensions, accident compensation, and skill development remained either unutilised or grossly underutilised for several years.
AAP defense
Responding to the criticism, AAP MLA Virendra Kadian accused the BJP of selectively quoting those paragraphs of the CAG report that criticised the previous government. He said the report covered a four-year period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which many migrant workers had returned to their home States.
He added that the Kejriwal government had provided ₹5,000 each in financial assistance to registered workers during the pandemic.
Published – August 09, 2025 01:52 am IST
