BHUBANESWAR: When the Covid-19 pandemic brought life and livelihood to a complete halt, the urban local bodies (ULBs) and block offices of Odisha ‘disbursed’ a whopping Rs 68.24 crore to 4.55 lakh building and other construction (BOC) workers but furnished acknowledgements of only 67,000 beneficiaries (15 per cent) in support of receipt of an amount of Rs 10.12 crore.
This startling revelation has been made in the latest CAG report which said The Labour and Employees’ State Insurance (L&ESI) department decided in March 2020 to grant special financial assistance (SFA) at the rate of Rs 1,500 per registered BOC worker in the first wave of the pandemic.
In April, the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board (OBOCWWB) transferred Rs 315.37 crore to the joint bank accounts, operated by the collectors and 32 district labour officers (DLOs).
The CAG pointed out that the department released Rs 86.52 crore for 5.77 lakh beneficiaries of the Cuttack, Ganjam, Khurda and Keonjhar districts for disbursement. While a sum of Rs 68.24 crore (79 per cent) was disbursed to 4.55 lakh beneficiaries, the department records are silent on non-disbursement of the balance amount of Rs 18.28 crore to 1.21 lakh beneficiaries.
“Of the Rs 68.24 crore disbursed to 4.55 lakh beneficiaries, the ULBs and blocks furnished acknowledgements of only 67,000 beneficiaries (15 pc) in support of receipt of an amount of Rs 10.12 crore. Payment of SFA in cash and non-receipt of acknowledgements raise doubts on the veracity of the disbursements claimed to have been made,” the report said and added that utilisation certificates (UCs) were not submitted by the DLOs to the Board till the end of March 2023.
The department had instructed that the amounts should be credited to bank accounts of the beneficiaries and DLOs were asked to submit UCs at the earliest duly signed by the district Collector.
The audit noted DLOs released the entire amount to the ULBs and blocks, along with a list of beneficiaries, for payment of SFA. The logic behind payments through ULBs and blocks, instead of making direct transfer to beneficiaries’ accounts, was the DLOs did not have the bank particulars of the beneficiaries.
The CAG also found more than 34,000 migrant workers of the four sample districts working in building and other construction sectors in other states were deprived of financial assistance provided under various welfare schemes during Covid-19 lockdown as they were not registered with the (OBOCWWB).
The performance audit said test-check of records and the information furnished by the DLOs of the four sampled districts of Cuttack, Ganjam, Khurda and Keonjhar revealed that 2,54,896 migrant workers returned during the Covid-19 pandemic. Of them 38,023 migrant workers were BOC workers, as per skill mapping by the Panchayati Raj department. However, only 3,457 returnee migrants were registered by the DLOs, leaving 34,566 migrants unregistered till February 2023.