BHOPAL: Services of a gram rozgar sahayak have been terminated, while the panchayat secretary of a village suspended in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, after the matter of 11 MGNREGA job cards bearing pictures of Bollywood actresses, including Deepika Padukone, came to the fore.
The District Panchayat chief executive officer (CEO) Gaurav Benal said after the primary probe, the panchayat secretary of Peeparkheda Naka village Mojilal Senani has been suspended, while services of the gram rozgar sahayak Rum Singh Jamre were terminated on the directions of district collector Anugraha P.
“Pictures of the Bollywood actresses are no longer visible on the concerned job cards on the web portal anymore. Probe is underway to find out how such alleged manipulation of images on the job cards happened. If required, technical experts will be roped in for detailed investigation.
"Action has been initiated against the gram rozgar sahayak, as the login ID and password details of the job guarantee scheme’s portal is held by him. If subsequent probe establishes any criminal intent on part of the gram rozgar sahayak or the panchayat secretary, then criminal case will be registered against them,” Benal said.
“No financial irregularities have so far been found in the probe so far. The pictures of actual job cardholders have been found on the cards and they’ve been paid for the work done by them,” he maintained.
The Peepakheda Naka village sarpanch Shanta Bai, meanwhile, blamed the rozgar sahayak and panchayat secretary for the alleged anomaly in the MGNREGA portal.
One of the job card holders Sonu Shantilal, however, alleged that fake job cards were made and Bollywood actress’s picture fixed on it instead of his wife’s and money too has been taken on the basis of it. “Neither me nor my wife have taken a single penny by using the card,” alleged Sonu.
Importantly, the Peeparkheda Naka village is part of Khargone district’s Jhriniya Janpad Panchayat, which was praised in 2019 for having paid out 100 percent of allotted wages for employment under the MGNREGA scheme.
Recently, the matter of 11 MGNREGA job cards bearing pictures of Bollywood actresses, had come to the fore. It was also mentioned on the card that the job card holders concerned at Peeparkheda Naka village had done works pertaining to canal repair and pond deepening. The cardholders had alleged that they were shown to have been paid wages, despite not having worked.