Welfare & Cess Commissioner, Bhubneswar

About Us

With a view to uplift the living conditions of the workers engaged in the unorganised sectors particularly in Mines, Beedi & Cine Industries, statutory measures have been adopted by the Central Government by enacting the legislations for setting up of various WELFARE FUNDS in order to administer welfare measures to such workers. Some of these are:-

1. IRON/MANGANESE/CHROME ORE MINES LABOUR WELFARE FUND:

Initially the Fund was constituted under The Iron Ore Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act., 1961. The same was brought into force from October, 1963. With a view to extend the welfare facilities to other Mine workers, the scope of the Iron Ore Mines Labour Welfare Fund was enlarged to cover the workers employed in the Manganese Ore Mines from 1.9.1978 and later Chrome Ore mines from 01.7.1983.

2)LIMESTONE & DOLOMITE MINES LABOUR WELFARE FUND

The Fund was constituted under the Limestone & Dolomite Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1972 and came into operation effective from 01.12.1977.

3)BEEDI WOREKRS WELFARE FUND.

The Fund was constituted under the Beedi Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1976 and the Fund became operative from 15.2.1977.

4)CINE WORKERS WEFLARE FUND.

The Fund was constituted in the year 1981 under the Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act 1981. The Fund was initially administered by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting up till 31st March 1986 and thereafter it was transferred to Ministry of Labour effective from 01.04.1986.

The above Funds have been created by levy of cess on consumption or export of the minerals, beedi manufactured and on the production of feature films. The present rates of cess levied by the Government of India are as under:

(a)	IRON ORE	Re.1.00 * PMT
(b)	MANGANESE ORE	Rs.4.00 * PMT
(c)	CHROME ORE	Rs.6.00 * PMT
(d)	LIMESTONE & DOLOMITE	Rs.1.00 * PMT(* PMT-PER METRIC TONNE).
(e)	BEEDI	Re.5.00 per 1000 manufactured beedis.
(f)	CINE	Rs.10,000/- per Hindi feature film. Rs. 5,000/- per Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam feature films. Rs. 3,000/- per Bengali, Marathi and Gujarati films. Rs.2,000/- per Oriya, Assamese and all Other regional language films Including English films.

All the Labour Welfare Funds indicated above are administered under the overall control of the Director General (Labour Welfare) assisted by the Welfare Commissioner (HQ), in the Ministry of Labour & Employment Govt. of India with field formations in the areas concerned under the supervision of the Welfare Commissioner in each region consisting of different States. The Office of the Welfare & Cess Commissioner, Labour Welfare Organisation , Bhubaneswar is one among the nine region. Apart from Head Office at Bhubaneswar, the Labour Welfare Organisation, Bhubaneswar comprises of two field offices, i.e. Office of the Deputy Welfare Commissioner, Barbil, and Office of the Welfare Administrator, Rourkela, and 24 Medical units (One 50-beded Hospital & 23 dispensaries.)

The above Acts bestow with that the fund may be applied by the Central Government to meet the expenditure incurred in connection with measures and facilities through various Welfare Schemes for the concerned section of workers. The Welfare Schemes have been formulated to improve the living and social condition of the workers engaged in the unorganised sector especially, the Beedi making, Mining & Production of feature film. Health Schemes have been formulated to improve upon the health care & Family Welfare of these workers. The Educational scheme provides assistance for better educational facilities to the children of poor workers. The Housing Schemes provides subsidy to the tune of Rs 40,000/- for construction of low cost houses to the workers, where as the Recreational schemes provide a source of relaxation to the workers after their hard toil for bread and butter throughout the day.

In short the Labour Welfare Organisation is striving to improve upon the basic needs of the human beings. i.e. HEALTH, HOUSING, EDUCATION, RECREATION and. SOCIAL SECURITY

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