3.8 lakh contract workers registered on Rlys’ Shramik Kalyan portal

Indian Railways’ Shramik Kalyan e-application, which was developed and launched on October 1, 2018, has seen registration by 15,812 contractors and 3,81,831 contract workers so far, an official release said on Thursday.

The e-application ensures compliance with the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act and also ensures that contractual workers of Indian Railways get their rightful due.

The contractors are required to regularly upload wage payment data onto the e-application. This helps Railways, as the principal employer, to keep an eye over wages disbursed by contractors to contract workers, it added.

Over ₹3,495 crore has been disbursed as wages and about six crore man-days have been registered on the portal across Indian Railways. All public sector units working under the Ministry of Railways are also using this e-application, said the release.

The portal enables all contractors of Railways to register themselves and subsequently add work orders issued by different Railway units.

Payment of bills

The contractors have to create profile of each contract worker engaged for the work and update the wages provided to him/her on regular basis. There are checks in the portal to ensure that wages paid by the contractors conform with the minimum wages fixed by the government, said the statement.

Railway authorities, before passing the contractors’ bills, have to check whether contract workers’ wage data have been uploaded by the contractor or not. For ensuring compliance, necessary changes have also been made in the contract conditions.

Provision is available in the e-application to generate an identity (card/number) for the contract worker and also send text messages from time to time about wages paid, and contribution made to the Employees Provident Fund and Employees State Insurance Corporation, it said.