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Madhya Pradesh government told NDTV they will investigate the matter.

After NDTV exposed irregularities in a government scheme for labourers in Madhya Pradesh earlier this year, a case has been registered against 17 people for the alleged fraud.

Documents showed that several labourers who are very much alive and working have been listed as dead to siphon off government money from a scheme in Madhya Pradesh,

The Madhya Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board gives Rs 2 lakh for funeral arrangement to families if a labourer dies at work or in an accident. Compensation is also given if a registered labourer suffers permanent or partial temporary disability due to a work-related accident.

In February this year, when the scam was unearthed by NDTV, Urmila Raikwar and Mohammad Qamar were shocked to find themselves listed among the dead, with funds fraudulently withdrawn in their names.

And then there are genuine cases of labourers who died in work-related accidents, but their families never got the money.

Leelabai, a resident of Bhopal’s Jahangirabad neighbourhood, says someone withdrew the Rs 2 lakh she was meant to get after her daughter, who was a registered worker, died two years ago.

In most of the cases, “e-payment orders” were found to be issued after 11 pm, and the copies of the death certificates were blurred. None of the identities have been linked with updated Aadhaar details. Even the Samagra IDs, an essential document issued by the state government, were created just before the “death” of labourers.

The officials appeared to have targetted only those labourers whose wage diaries, used to track payments, were inactive.

The Madhya Pradesh government told NDTV they will investigate the matter.

“If such a fraud has taken place anywhere, it will be investigated and strict action will be taken against whoever is guilty, no one in our government has the right to do such acts, There will be an investigation and the culprits will not be spared, we will not allow the public to be played with and this is the aim of our government,” Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla told NDTV.

Manu Vyas, SP, Lokayukta Police thanked NDTV for the revelations. “We acted after the scam was unearthed by NDTV. We have filed case against 17 people and further investigation is on,” he said.