Nearly 2,000 marriage records in Odisha manipulated to claim welfare aid: report
More evidence of how Odisha’s Nirman Shramik Scheme was exploited to avail illegal benefits has come to light
Nearly 2,000 marriage records in Odisha have been found to be manipulated in a bid to fraudulently claim welfare aid under the Nirman Shramik scheme, according to a draft audit report released by the Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board. The discovery was made during an audit of the scheme's funds and is expected to be included in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Audit report for the fiscal year 2024-2025.
A day prior to this revelation, The Hindu reported on 2,487 construction workers who were erroneously declared dead, resulting in the payment of death assistance to their nominees even though the workers continued to receive subsidized foodgrains under the National Food Security Act and the State Food Security Scheme.
The draft report highlights that 676 marriage certificates had registration dates that were prior to the actual date of marriage, and in five sampled districts, 126 marriage registration dates were also found to be earlier than the dates of marriage. After the Nirmal Shramik Portal was launched, 1,257 such cases were discovered across the state, and 333 in the sampled districts, leading to the disbursement of ₹6.29 crore.
The audit report points out that system design flaws and inadequate validation permitted ineligible individuals to exploit the scheme, thereby violating marriage registration protocols.
Furthermore, the audit report reveals that marriage certificate issue registers at the Block Development Office in Khariar contained blank pages and lacked recipient signatures. In this particular office, ₹2.90 crore was disbursed in marriage benefits for the period 2020-25, but the details of the issued certificates were missing.
The Odisha Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board provides ₹50,000 aid for the marriage of an unmarried registered female beneficiary or for the marriage of two unmarried daughters aged above 18 years of a registered construction worker. By 2024, the board's fund had reached over ₹4,000 crore. As per the Orissa Hindu Marriages and Registration Rules, 1960, both parties to a marriage solemnized in accordance with the provisions of the Act must submit an application in Form B before the Registrar within 30 days of the marriage's solemnization.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
