COVID-19 relief: Labour Dept comes under PAC scanner

The expenditure incurred by the Labour Department to the tune of around Rs 800 crore in providing relief, food kits and other amenities to labourers has now come under the scanner of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

After the PAC sensed irregularities in distribution of relief to beneficiaries, it has sought a detailed report on the expenses incurred by the department since the lockdown.

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According to the submissions of the Labour Department to the PAC, accessed by DH, Rs 739.19 crore was distributed to 14.78 lakh beneficiaries in Karnataka. Though relief was distributed based on valid documents, the department is yet to ascertain the native district of 1.25 lakh beneficiaries, raising eyebrows.

Food kits

The department has also claimed that it distributed 83.44 lakh food kits worth Rs 69.9 crore, which, according to sources, was flagged by even members of the ruling party in the PAC. About Rs 4.1 crore was for masks and sanitisers, according to the department’s submission.

After Health and Family Welfare, this is the second department to be pulled up by the PAC over alleged irregularities during Covid-19 relief.

During the recent meeting, PAC chairman H K Patil highlighted that Rs 62 crore distributed to 1.25 lakh beneficiaries was suspect in nature.

While 11.62 lakh of the 21.78 lakh registered members of the Karnataka Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board — who had linked their bank accounts and Aadhaar cards — were provided compensation worth Rs 581.12 crore, officials had compiled data of another 3.16 lakh beneficiaries and sent them to banks.

The PAC took objection to the fact that even though officials had collected data from employees, beneficiaries ‘pending for segregation’ were 1.25 lakh.

The department’s claim of distributing 83.44 lakh food packets from April 30 to June 10 also attracted criticism.