The rural development ministry of the Bihar government has revoked the MGNREGA job credentials of 39.36 million inactive state workers.
The affected labourers had not worked a single day in the previous three years, but were still receiving compensation through this programme.
According to an official, the state government took the initiative because the Aadhaar cards of MGNREGA workers did not match their employment cards.
The majority of cancellations have been reported from the districts of Patna, Vaishali, Samastipur, Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, and Darbhanga. A large number of labourers received funds under Indira Awas Yojana and PM Awas Yojana and constructed their homes using job cards, but did not work a single day under MGNREGA.
Last year, the state government linked 88.31 million job cards to Aadhaar, bringing the total number of MGNREGA workers in the state to 2.35 million. The officials discovered that 39.36 lakh job credentials were phoney, as they were not linked to Aadhaar and for other reasons. The department has therefore cancelled them.
In the future, additional employment cards will be cancelled, the official added.
According to sources, a significant number of labourers obtained MGNREGA job cards and then left the state. Public representatives, such as Mukhiya, are keeping their credentials and withdrawing money from the department before dividing the sum.
According to the guidelines, active labourers must attach their job cards to Aadhaar in order to be eligible for jobs under this programme, which provides 100 days of guaranteed employment per year.
