Haryana's Labour Minister, Anil Vij, has called for a major investigation into a suspected multi-crore fraud within a state welfare body meant for construction workers. On Tuesday, Vij recommended that either a state or a central agency probe the alleged Rs 1,500 crore scam in projects run by the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.
Massive Irregularities Uncovered in District Verification
The scandal revolves around serious irregularities in work receipts, with the board operating under the state's labour department. "Whoever the culprits are will be brought to book, and we shall initiate exemplary action against anyone found involved," Minister Vij asserted.
The alarm was raised after Vij recently chaired a board meeting. The discussions revealed not just flaws in how board members were appointed, but also major problems in distributing benefits under welfare schemes designed for construction workers. This discovery prompted the minister to order an immediate inquiry.
Preliminary checks were first conducted in several districts including Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Sirsa, Faridabad, and Bhiwani. These checks revealed large-scale fraud. Following this, deputy commissioners across all districts were instructed to form special committees. These district-level panels, which include a labour department officer and three other officials, have been tasked with physically verifying online work slips issued between August 2023 and March 2025.
Shocking Numbers Reveal Scale of Fraud
The verification drive, which began about four months ago, has been completed in 13 districts so far. The findings from these districts are staggering.
In the districts of Karnal, Rewari, Nuh (Mewat), Mahendragarh, Gurugram, Jhajjar, Palwal, Panipat, Rohtak, Sonipat, Panchkula, Sirsa, and Kaithal, a total of 5,99,758 work slips were issued. After physical verification, only 53,249 were found to be valid. A massive 5,46,509 slips were declared invalid.
The story is similar for worker registrations. Out of 2,21,517 labour registrations checked, only 14,240 workers were found to be eligible. In contrast, 1,93,756 registrations were found to be invalid.
"Outright Loot" of Government Funds
Minister Vij explained that the fraud followed a clear pattern. In numerous instances, entire villages were registered fraudulently, and fake work slips were generated. This allowed ineligible people to illegally claim benefits from government schemes meant for genuine construction workers.
Given that a worker typically receives benefits worth around Rs 2.5 lakh across various schemes, the potential financial loss to the state exchequer is enormous. "Those who are not eligible are availing benefits. This is outright loot, causing the government a financial loss running into hundreds of crores," Vij added, condemning the widespread malpractice.
The investigation is ongoing as committees continue their verification work in the remaining districts of Haryana. The probe aims to identify the individuals and networks behind this sophisticated scam that siphoned funds from welfare initiatives.
