The Labour Department of Gautam Budh Nagar has announced that many big realtors have been dodging the labour taxes in NCR – Greater Noida, Noida and Yamuna Expressway. The Labour Department is still waiting to claim labour taxes of around Rs.50 crore from realtors who are involved in huge realty projects.
As an order from the central government, the Labour Department of Uttar Pradesh had started to levy labour taxes since 2009. These taxes help the government in looking after the welfare of labours by funding and executing schemes, specifically meant for them.
Any realtor (or even any individual for that matter), who spends more than Rs.10 Lakhs on construction of any building, will obligatorily have to pay one percent of the total cost of construction as labour tax to the labour department.
The Labour Department will be sending notices to the realtors who are at default to claim dues and this recovered money can be used for the welfare of labours’ families. The E-way authorities have initiated the system of issuing Building Occupancy Certificates to realtors.
This is done in order to ensure that the realtors dutifully pay the taxes as only those realtors who clear their due of taxes will be eligible for the certificate.
The main reason for so many realtors to be at default is the downfall in the real estate market. The Labour Department has been able to collect Rs.733 crore between the period of February 2009 and February 2017.
Gautam Budh Nagar district is the highest collector of labour tax in the entire state, owing to the escalation in the housing sector. But, only 10 percent of the amount of Rs733 crore is actually spent on the welfare of construction labourers.
The registered number of construction workers is 135355 comprising 2638 construction sites. Unfortunately, the number of unregistered workers is around 2-3 lakhs and hence they are not able to exercise the welfare schemes meant for them. The sad part is these unregistered workers have no idea about the schemes that are made for them and even the fact that getting registered is important to use the benefits of these schemes.
Most of the construction labourers are from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar, who work in Greater Noida and Noida and go back to their hometowns without any idea of the importance of getting themselves registered. And consequently, they are unable to avail the benefits of the government’s labour oriented welfare schemes.
