Overview

• The CAG performance audit, tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on September 10, reviews the Building and Other Construction Workers framework through March 2022 and finds systemic lapses across governance, finance, registration and safety.
• The 15-member Welfare Board operated with only the Labour Principal Secretary between 2017 and 2022, the State Advisory Committee was not constituted since 2011, and vacancies persisted with 72% of regular posts and 38% of temporary posts unfilled, including a 100% shortage of Senior Inspectors and a 30% shortage of Inspectors.
• The statutory Welfare Fund was never set up, so cess was routed to the state treasury; of Rs 4,787.60 crore collected since 2006–07, Rs 2,544.81 crore was released to the Board by March 2023, leaving Rs 2,242.79 crore retained by the government.
• Active registrations fell from 467,682 in March 2018 to 156,955 by March 2022 against an estimated 1.5 million workers, renewals on the e‑Nirman portal stayed low at 3–16%, and weak verification allowed non‑construction occupations to be registered, with the Board now initiating cancellations.
• Establishment registration and enforcement lagged, with only 13% of 55,568 development permissions reflected as registered establishments, no GIS or permit-linkage mechanism in place, and DISH data showing 313 worker deaths at 280 sites during 2017–22 alongside widespread safety non‑compliance on field checks.