Construction workers are hard at work under the scorching sun. File
| Photo Credit: Karthikeyan G

The Tamil Nadu government should make insurance cover for construction workers mandatory in building plan approval applications, the Tamil Nadu AITUC Construction Workers Union has said.

General secretary of the Union N. Selvaraj told The Hindu on Friday that three construction workers died in accidents at construction sites in and around Coimbatore in the last 10 days. Even if a worker is not registered with the construction workers welfare board, his family will get ₹5 lakh compensation if he dies at the work site. Further, compensation should be paid to the worker’s family – depending on his age – by the property owner under the Workman Compensation Act.

However, most of the owners do not pay this amount. It takes a long time to settle the issue legally too and the family of the worker does not benefit.

Hence, the State government should make it mandatory for those who submit applications for building plan approval to get insurance cover for the workers. Only two public sector insurance companies have such policies. The applicant can take insurance cover for 10 workers or so – depending on the size of the building under construction, pay premium for one year and submit the details when the application is submitted for plan approval. This will benefit the workers, he said.