Delhi directorate of health services could not spent Rs 1 crore meant for the benefit of constuction workers and returned the money to the department from where it had come- state labour department.

The health directorate gave this information to Delhi resident Thanseshwar Dayal Adiguar, who is working for the cause of construction workers.

In August 2009, the labour welfare board, under the Delhi labour department, sanctioned Rs 1 crore to the Delhi directorate of health services which is running Delhi Arogya Nidhi (DAN).

Under DAN, the below poverty line (BPL) citizens in Delhi suffering from life threatening disorders can apply for financial assistance for treatment in government  hospital.

“The welfare board gave Rs 1 crore to the Delhi government to support the scheme for construction workers. In other words, if any worker applies for assistance under DAN, he or she will be given money from this Rs 1 crore, ” said Subhash Bhatnagar of Nirman Mazdoor Sansthan Sangathan, an NGO working for constriction workers.

Not a single construction worker approached the health directorate for a year to make such claim.

“Majority of workers are not registered and those are registered, are not aware of any such facility,” said Thanseshwar.

According to the reply, the health directorate never received the list of workers who were supposed to be beneficiaries of this amount. “Twice we wrote to the welfare board for the list of workers. The Board did not recommend the name of any worker to us and did not send the documents related to any worker. We have returned the money to the Welfare Board expecting that we get it back along with the list of construction workers,” said the response from the public information of the Delhi directorate of health services.