Sambhal,
15 May (HS): An alleged fraud under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme has been discovered in a village here,
with over a dozen people listed as labourers and wages deducted in their names.
According to officials, the scam was discovered in Atarasi village, Panwasa
block, Sambhal district. Sunita Yadav, the current village head, has been
accused of creating job cards in the names of deceased villagers and taking
wages by falsely claiming ‘work completed’ on paper. The district government
acknowledged that an investigation is ongoing, and that recovery efforts have
begun from the village head. The situation came to my attention around seven
months ago. An investigation was
initiated at the time, according to Sambhal District Magistrate Rajendra
Pensiya.
When
the misappropriation is less than 10%, we proceed with the recovery from the
relevant official. In this case, Rs 1.05
lakh was determined to have been misappropriated. The recovery is being carried out from the
village head. Other development projects
in the village are also being investigated, he stated.
One
of those identified as laborers was the principal of an intercollegiate
institution.
Rishipal
Singh, the principal of Mulayam Singh Yadav Inter College, stated, A job
card was created in my name without my knowledge. I’ve never worked for MGNREGA, but my name
showed in the records, and money was withdrawn.
I was even summoned in for questioning throughout the investigation.
Sanjeev
Kumar, a local inhabitant, stated, My grandfather Jagat Singh died in
2020. We had no notion salaries were
being deducted in his name. We only
found out when officials arrived in the village to conduct an
investigation. We’ve heard that work
cards were produced in the names of over a dozen deceased people.”
Nirmal
Das, the case’s main plaintiff, claimed that job cards were issued in the names
of the village head’s deceased father-in-law and numerous of her family
members. Money from government fund was withdrawn in the names of fictitious
workers. Some of these folks no longer
call the village home. However, Das
claimed that their identities were utilized to drain monies.
Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi
