Bhubaneswar: Odisha govt has ordered an administrative probe into an alleged fake death certificate scam after an audit found that over 2,400 construction workers officially recorded as dead continued to avail PDS foodgrains through Aadhaar authentication.Dodda Venkata Swamy, principal secretary, labour and ESI department of Odisha, said a 5-member team led by additional secretary Dhirendranath Kar has started probe into the allegations. “Recently, a man from Mayurbhanj district had come to our grievance redressal cell with complaints of irregularities. Besides, the audit has also raised the issue,” Swamy told TOI.The draft audit of PAReSHRAM, the labour and ESI department’s digital platform, and the Nirman Shramik Portal of the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board, proposed to be included in a comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report, flagged what appears to be large-scale irregularities in the disbursement of death benefits to registered construction workers.According to the audit, an analysis of data obtained from the food supplies and consumer welfare department showed that 2,487 beneficiaries recorded as deceased under the Nirman Shramik scheme continued to receive ration under NFSA and SFSS after their reported dates of death through Aadhaar authentication in the 2022-2025 period.The audit further found that in 753 cases, death benefits worth Rs 15.10 crore were disbursed to nominees even though the beneficiaries subsequently authenticated their Aadhaar biometrically and continued to draw subsidised foodgrains.Under the NFSA and SFSS, eligible beneficiaries receive subsidised foodgrains through the targeted public distribution system (TPDS). Distribution requires Aadhaar authentication through any of the prescribed verification methods. “This implies that the beneficiary was alive and authenticating his/her Aadhaar physically to avail ration, indicating fraudulent disbursement of death benefits,” the audit observed. “It also indicates that medical officers issued death certificates against those alive,” it added.Under the Nirman Shramik scheme, registered construction workers are entitled to welfare support ranging from scholarships and marriage assistance to death compensation. Nominees of deceased workers receive Rs 2 lakh as compensation and Rs 5,000 for funeral expenses. The benefits are funded by a 1% construction cess collected by the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board, whose corpus exceeded Rs 4,000 crore by 2024.Labour minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia said exemplary action will be taken against whosoever is found guilty in the probe.
