Dead man working in Haryana

CHANDIGARH: Even dead people get paid for their work in Haryana. CAG auditors have found that under the Centre's employment guarantee scheme NREGA, the Haryana government has paid wages to even dead persons.
A CAG report has found that money was also paid to fictitious workers. With the NREGA funds, the state government also constructed roads which were not accessible and ponds were dug without water.
In one instance, one Kundan Lal was paid Rs 2,000 by the gram panchayat for 13 days' labour under the scheme at Ali Mohmamd village in Sirsa district in 2010. However, the auditors found that Kundan Lal had died in 2009.
In Samlehri village of Ambala district, one Jitender was shown as a labourer under the scheme and the auditors found that the payment was made to one Rajiv for the same job.
At Bahmanwala village in Fatehabad district, the gram panchayat had shown 1,400 labourers working under the scheme and Rs 2.5 lakh was paid to them but the auditors found that none was shown present in the muster roll. The auditors also detected tempering of muster rolls in 25 cases in Ambala, Sirsa, Palwal and Fatehabad districts.
Fifteen village panchayats spent Rs 80 lakh for digging and deepening of ponds for water in Sirsa, Ambala, Fatehabad and Kurukshetra districts. However, CAG observed that there was no source of water for filling up these ponds.
CAG could not audit expenditure of over Rs 25 crore, which was released to the divisional forest officer (territorial), Ambala, for afforestation and development of herbal parks as the officer claimed the records were damaged in rains.
However, the auditors located an inspection report submitted by then additional deputy commissioner (ADC), Ambala, to the government in 2010 highlighting the irregularities in execution of the scheme.
As per the Union government instructions, cash payment of wages to workers was not allowed after September 2008. However, cash withdrawals of Rs 8.5 crore were made by the forest department during October 2008 to March 2010.
When pointed out by the auditors, the director general of rural development department stated that the state government has ordered a vigilance probe into the matter related to Ambala district.