Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma launched the CM-LIGHT scheme on May 1, 2026, transferring ₹5,000 each to over 11,000 registered construction workers, and approved a fresh Variable Dearness Allowance for the state’s muster roll employees on the same day.
The CM-LIGHT scheme is being funded through the labour cess collected by the Meghalaya Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which the state government said has now touched almost ₹400 crore. Under central laws, employers contribute 1% of construction project costs as labour cess.
The ₹5,000 cash transfer is the first scheme-level disbursement against this corpus and is positioned alongside existing welfare benefits available to registered workers, including education assistance ranging from ₹1,500 to ₹14,300, marriage assistance up to ₹8,000, maternity benefits up to ₹10,000, family pension up to 50% and ₹1,500 a month after retirement, funeral assistance up to ₹5,000, medical assistance up to ₹10,000, plus ₹2 lakh life insurance and ₹2 lakh accident coverage.
“I am happy to inform you that just yesterday, the government, keeping in mind today’s importance, has cleared the file and we have approved the new VDA for the muster roll workers so that our muster roll workers can get the necessary benefits that they deserve,” Sangma said at the International Workers’ Day function in Shillong. He acknowledged that the VDA decision will add an annual cost burden of about ₹10 crore to the state exchequer.
Sangma flagged a long-standing registration gap among the state’s labour force. “I remember during Covid times in 2019, we desired at that point in time also to register labourers, but you will be surprised to know that the majority of our local labourers were not registered and even today, the majority of our local labourers are not registered,” he said, urging the Labour Department to run a wider awareness drive on the new scheme.
The Chief Minister also pointed to Meghalaya’s wage position, noting that the state’s unskilled labour rate of ₹525 per day is the highest in the North East and the third-highest in the country, behind Karnataka at ₹581 and Goa at ₹535.
The twin announcements come as Meghalaya, growing at around 10% annually, attempts to translate ₹29,000 crore of ongoing infrastructure investment into 20,000 new jobs and stronger formal protection for its construction workforce.
