E-Paper
{Welfare schemes for construction workers} Irregularities, large-scale corruption found: Minister
Financial irregularities have been detected in the implementation of welfare schemes for building and other construction workers in Haryana, state labour minister Anil Vij said on Saturday.
Financial irregularities have been detected in the implementation of welfare schemes for building and other construction workers in Haryana, state labour minister Anil Vij said on Saturday.
The minister said that about 11.96 lakh receipts were verified between August 2023 and March 2025 during the verification of 90-day work receipts of labourers which appeared quite impossible. “It is evident that most of these verifications were fake, indicating large-scale corruption. During this period, about 1.45 lakh work receipts were verified in Hisar, out of which a single employee verified 84,741 applications in just three months. In fact, this employee verified 2,646 receipts in a day. Similarly, a Faridabad employee verified 2,702 receipts, out of which 1,918 belonged to Sonepat district,” the minister said in a statement.
The minister said that a three-member committee was constituted to investigate the verified work receipts for three months (November 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025) from six districts of Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Sirsa, Faridabad and Bhiwani.
“The committee found numerous irregularities. Therefore, action has been ordered and the advocate general has been instructed to initiate criminal proceedings against the guilty,” the minister said. He said that on reviewing the report it became evident that most of these work receipts were created for fake workers who were receiving benefits under various departmental schemes causing potential financial loss of several hundred crores to the state government.
Vij said that since irregularities have been found in the implementation of various welfare schemes for building and other construction workers, he has ordered that physical verification of the work receipts of registered workers be conducted in every district.
“Written directions have been issued to the deputy commissioners to form a three-member committee to examine the work slips of workers. This committee will include a representative from the labour department and two other nominated independent gazetted officers. The committee through physical inspection in every village or town will verify the criteria followed in the registration process and for work receipt verification. The committees will submit reports within three months,” Vij said.
The minister said various benefits were provided to registered construction workers in Haryana including maternity benefit of ₹36,000, paternity benefit of ₹21,000, educational financial support for children of workers ranging from ₹8,000 to ₹20,000 annually (primary to higher education), merit-based scholarships between ₹21,000 and ₹51,000 for children scoring 60% to 90% in Class 10 and 12 exams, reimbursement of full academic expenses for children pursuing professional or technical courses as per actual government expenses, hostel facility aid up to ₹1.2 lakh for children of workers in vocational institutes, coaching assistance for vocational courses from ₹20,000 to ₹1 lakh, incentive of ₹50,000 for registered workers’ daughters to purchase an electric scooter and laptop grant of ₹49,000 under the CM Shram Yogi Pratibha Yojana.
