A minor student in south Kashmir’s Shopian district was left dumbfounded after he found that a job card had been issued in his name under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a scheme billed as the lifeline for the rural poor.
The shocker came when the student, a resident of Heerpora village, had gone to apply for a scholarship.
“After entering my details, I found a job card had been issued in my name by altering my age record,” the student said.
The 12-year-old student was shown as 42-year-old on the job card.
Locals said that dozens of such job cards had been made in the name of their minor children by manipulating their date of birth and producing other counterfeit documents.
“It is a big scheme and if probed properly, more skeleton will come down tumbling from the closet of some corrupt officials,” a resident said.
Angry over the issue, locals Tuesday afternoon staged a protest in the village and demanded a through inquiry into the scam.
“We demand an inquiry and immediate action against those who have manipulated the records and made such job cards,” a resident said.
Another resident said that when they got to know about such job cards, they had approached the Police and registered a formal complaint.
“It is injustice to our small school-going children. We appeal the administration to conduct an immediate inquiry into the matter,” he said.
A Police official told Greater Kashmir that they had registered a case and started an inquiry.
“The complainants have provided us a long list of such job cards and have named a Village Level Worker and Gram Rozgar Sevak in their complaint,” the official said.