We Are Shocked After Seeing Reports from 13 Districts in the Work Slip Case; Further Investigation Is Necessary, the Matter May Be Even Bigger: Labour Minister Anil Vij

This Issue Came to My Notice as Soon as I Took Charge of the Labour Department: Anil Vij

Haryana Labour Minister Sh. Anil Vij termed the nearly Rs.1,500 crore work slip scam that has come to light in the Labour Department as extremely serious, stating that it is a major scam and requires an in-depth investigation. He said that as soon as he assumed charge of the Labour Department, it came to his notice that thousands of workers had been verified by a single individual, which is impossible under any circumstances.

While interacting with the media persons today, the Labour Minister said that the government provides several benefits to construction workers. The government bears the educational expenses of their children up to the PhD level and provides financial assistance for marriages, the birth of children, and medical treatment in case of illness. Registration and verification of workers are mandatory to avail these benefits.

He said that when it was revealed that individual employees had verified thousands of workers each, a summary inspection was first conducted in three districts, which confirmed the irregularities. Subsequently, it was decided to conduct an investigation across all districts of the state.

The Labour Minister said that due to limited staff in the department, it was not possible to conduct verification in all districts directly. Therefore, letters were sent to all Deputy Commissioners instructing them to form three-member committees and carry out door-to-door verification based on the lists of registered workers.

So far, reports from 13 districts have been received, while reports from 9 districts are still pending. According to the reports received, out of a total 599,758 work slips in these 13 districts, only 53,249 were found to be valid, while the rest were found to be invalid. Similarly, out of 221,517 registered workers, only 14,240 workers were found to be valid.

Minister Anil Vij stated that this clearly indicates that the government benefits being claimed in the names of workers are actually being availed by someone else. It is now necessary to investigate who created these work slips, since when the benefits have been drawn, who all benefited from them, and who verified these slips. He added that the matter may turn out to be even larger as the investigation progresses.

It is noteworthy that this large-scale fraud in the Labour Department was investigated on the directions of Labour Minister Anil Vij himself, leading to the exposure of a work slip scam worth approximately Rs.1,500 crore. The minister has also recommended a detailed investigation by the Chief Minister in this matter.