Chandigarh, Labour Minister Anil Vij on Thursday said that the portal IDs of those construction workers of the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board will be activated soon, whose ‘work slips’ have been found to be genuine in the probe into the alleged fake registration of workers seeking benefits of government schemes.
Vij said that a proposal in this regard was sent by him to the high-level committee constituted by the government, and the committee has granted its approval/recommendations.
The work slips certify that a construction worker has completed at least 90 days of work in the preceding year, making them eligible for accessing government benefits.
Earlier this month, the probe into the alleged irregularities related to work slips under the construction workers’ welfare board had revealed nearly 90 per cent of the slips to be fake.
Of a total of 2,178,523 work slips examined, only 2,70,945 were found to be valid, while 1,907,578 were identified as fraudulent.
As per the available information, the workers use the work slip to avail various government benefits. On average, a worker receives benefits worth around ₹2.5 lakh.
Preliminary findings suggest that the scam could amount to approximately ₹1,500 crore.
On Thursday, Vij said that as per the recommendations of the committee, the welfare board will constitute a grievance committee at the district level to address workers’ issues.
Vij had earlier requested Chief Minister Nayab Saini to initiate a probe. Subsequently, the government directed the formation of a committee to submit a report on funds disbursed to fake workers.
These committees carried out physical verification of online work slips, confirming that approximately 90 per cent were fake.
Vij said that the investigation was conducted across 22 districts, covering a period of the last two years. He said that the work slips of labourers who have availed benefits under the schemes running since 2008 can also be investigated.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.