Alappuzha: As the software consolidation progresses, the number of members in the Workers Welfare Board has fallen by 3 lakh. With the exclusion of ‘ineligible’ workers, the number reduced from 70 to 67 lakh. There are 16 welfare boards in the State. The government had ordered to reduce this to 11. The software integration is also part of the government’s measure to weed out non-eligible workers. 

With the software integration, discrepancies from the registration level itself could be detected. Of the 11,275 new applications received by the Board, only 7,152 were found to be valid. It is expected that the number of beneficiaries will further decrease when this revision process is completed.

At present, 7.22 lakh people are receiving pension through the welfare boards. Rs 884.5 crore is spent monthly on this by the government. With the completion of the software integration, social security pension and Welfare Board membership of many may be invalidated. It is expected that this will help revive the boards that are presently functioning at loss or managing to sustain on the government assistance. 

With the advent of this software, it has become easier to make accurate decisions about offering benefits to the workers. Actions on children’s education, medical aid, maternity benefit and marriage benefit have all been speeded up. 

Earlier, all 16 Boards used different softwares. With the abandoning of these, a loss worth lakhs will be incurred. However, it is hoped that this loss can be balanced by avoiding non-eligible registrations.