NBOCWWB reminds depts to pay 1% cess timely

November 12, 2021 62 Views No Comment

Correspondent KOHIMA, NOV 12 (NPN): Newly-appointed Nagaland Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (NBOCWWB) chairman Dr Kekhrie Yhome has appealed to government establishments to maintain financial honesty and pay 1% cess timely to avoid financial burden.

Addressing media persons here Thursday, Yhome cautioned that cess defaulting departments and concerned disbursement officers could attract legal actions, which could affect their service, fines, or even imprisonment.

He mentioned that even though then ACS & finance commissioner had issued an office memorandum to DDOs in 2012 to ensure deduction of the cess, some departments did not follow the order as the officials were perhaps not aware of the cess.

He said NBOCWWB, which was comprised of 13 members and whose tenure was for three years, was established by an Act of Parliament and hence was a statutory body, adding that it was a welfare-oriented board with enforcement powers. Yhome claimed that the board endeavoured to ensure welfare or improve skills of building and construction workers, while alleging that local construction workers were discriminated against as contractors preferred migrant workers.

He maintained that poor financial administration was responsible for systematic corruption and creation of financial liabilities, and cited poor understanding of financial management, rules and policies as the reason for growing trust deficit between the government and public.

He recalled that then finance minister Dr Shürhozelie Liezietsu had in May-end, 2017 hurriedly introduced and passed Goods and Service Tax (GST) legislation without any public debate or consultation.

He remarked that it was ironic that a seasoned politician whose political party always raised voice and protested against “tax” enthusiastically introduced the first permanent Central tax for Naga people.

In an age where electronic governance and public accountability was central to any economic activity, Yhome pointed out the paramount task ahead was to democratise financial knowledge through public debates and open access.

He assured that NBOCWWB would tighten the loose ends of workers welfare, both in terms of schemes and programmes, and create direct access for beneficiaries through open access digitisation and development of user-friendly apps.

The NBOCWWB chairman mentioned that any government agency, Central or State, engaged in any civil work was under legal obligation to pay 1% cess of the total project cost every time a part or full payment was released.

Explaining that cess was not a revenue, he warned that any disbursement officer found deducting cess amount and not depositing it with the board would be dealt with strongly as per the law.

He assured that NBOCWWB would strive to improve the living condition of all building and construction workers through training and skill development, formulate comprehensive studies on the challenges faced by construction workers.

Source: http://www.nagalandpost.com/nbocwwb-reminds-depts-to-pay-1-cess-timely/244377.html