Dead people 'working' under MGNREGA in UP's Sambhal; probe ordered

Sambhal: An alleged fraud under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme has come to light in a village here, with over a dozen individuals shown as labourers and wages withdrawn in their names.

The scam was unearthed in Atarasi village under the Panwasa block of Sambhal district, officials said. The current village head, Sunita Yadav, is accused of generating job cards in the names of deceased villagers and withdrawing wages by falsely showing 'work completed' on paper.

The district administration confirmed that an investigation is underway and recovery has been initiated from the village head.

"The case came to my notice around seven months ago. An inquiry was ordered at that time," Sambhal District Magistrate Rajendra Pensiya told reporters.

"When the misappropriation in any case is below 10 per cent, we proceed with recovery from the concerned official. In this case, a misappropriation of Rs 1.05 lakh was found. The recovery is being made from the village head. Other developmental works in the village are also being investigated," he added.

Among those listed as labourers was a principal of an inter college.

Rishipal Singh, principal of Mulayam Singh Yadav Inter College, said, "A job card was made in my name without my knowledge. I have never worked under MGNREGA, yet my name appeared in the records and money was withdrawn. I was even called in for questioning during the inquiry." Local resident Sanjeev Kumar said, "My grandfather Jagat Singh passed away in 2020. We had no idea that wages were being withdrawn in his name. We only found out when officials came to the village to investigate. We have heard that job cards were created in the names of nearly a dozen deceased individuals." Nirmal Das, the main complainant in the case, alleged that job cards were made even in the name of the village head's deceased father-in-law and several of her family members.

"Money from government funds were withdrawn in the name of bogus labourers. Some of these people don't even live in the village anymore. Yet their identities were used to siphon off funds," Das said.

A Central government initiative, the MGNREGA provides at least 100 days of guaranteed employment in a year to rural households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.