The rural development department in Anantnag district has issued hundreds of fake and duplicate job cards for workers under MGNREGA, pointing to large scale corruption in the central government scheme.
Bashir Ahmad Tantray of Akhura village has been issued a jobcard under MGNREGA twice under different registration numbers.
Nine of his family members have also been issued separatejob cards including Tantray’s son-in-law making him a beneficiary of the schemeeven though he hails from an urban area.
Tantray’s is not an isolated case.
Greater Kashmir is in possession of documents proving thereare hundreds of such cases in Khovripora block in Anantnag district, where theofficials in Rural Development Department (RDD) have brazenly issued fake jobcards.
Even government employees, minors and deceased persons havebeen shown as the beneficiaries.
Officials say that in most of the cases wages drawnfraudulently are deposited directly in the bank accounts of middlemen chosen byRDD officials in Block development office (BDO).
The MGNREGA is a centrally sponsored flagship scheme of theGovernment of India which was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir in February2008. It guarantees 100 days of employment to people from rural areas who donot have a government job, and the job card is provided to a family headholding a ration card.
” Bashir Ahmad Tantray s/o Ghulam, Nabi held one job cardwith number 261 registered on 12-1-2009 but another card was issued on his nameon 4-1-2018 this time with a different number; 574,” an official documentreveals.
Even as the second job card issued in Tantray’s favor didnot mention his surname and father’s name, all the family members have beenrepeated.
“Tantrays sons, Arsheed and Farooq have also been issued separatejob cards and even then their name has been repeated in a number of other jobcards issued in favor of their family members as well as other job card holdersin the same village,” the document discloses.
Tantray’s family members have even been added to another jobcard holder Aadil Bhat of the same village.
Arsheed, Farooq, Shabrooza Akhtar, and even Bashir AhmadTantray have been shown as the family members of Bhat.
Tantrays son-in-law, Tariq Ahmad from Bijbehra town, husbandof his daughter Shabrooza, has also been issued a job card from Waguzarporavillage of Aakhoora Panchayat on 4-1-2018 bearing number 658.
“Shabroza too has a separate job card bearing number 657issued on the same date; 4-1-2018 ,” the document adds.
The RDD has even shown Muhamad Maqbool Dar bearing job cardno 285 who died way back in 2014 having done twenty-six days of labor inOctober 2018 in the previous financial year.
Similarly, a separate job card has been issued in favour ofa five-year-old minor, Zara Binti Rayees bearing number 615 who has been shownas household head.
The document also reveals that a job card was issued in fora retired Lecturer in education department, Hamidullah Wani, and a servingpoliceman Mushtaq Ahmad Parray.
Parray’s two sons and daughter are also shown as havingworked under the MNREGA.
“The job card has also been issued twice in the name ofManzoor Ahmad Lone of Wugazarpora village of Akhura with the first one issuedin 2008 bearing number 260 and the other one on 4-01-2018 with number 598,” accordingto the official document.
It mentions the parentage of first job card as Ahad and thesecond one as GH ostensibly to avoid easy detection.
“Even his (Lone’s) minor son Shakir Lone has been shown asthe beneficiary while the family members have been repeated multiple times indifferent job cards.”
Similarly, the number of people with no ration card, livingunder a single roof have been issued separate job cards, even as they are below18 years of age.
“This is just the tip of an iceberg. It is a huge scam whichruns in crores and the government is turning a blind eye towards it despitebeing brought into its notice several times,” an official told Greater Kashmiron condition of anonymity.
Assistant Commissioner Development (ACD) Anantnag, ChaudharyAslam promises a thorough probe into the scam.
“Please share all the details with me, I assure thoroughinvestigation,” Aslam said.