Kin forge death certificate for Rs 2.15 lakh grant in Hisar

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, September 22

Jaikaran of Data village in Hisar passed away on July 4, 2019, but his death certificate showed the date of his demise as May 20, 2021.

Dalbir of Masudpur village died on February 20, 2020, but the death certificate showed it August 25, 2021.

Sandeep of Gaibipur village breathed his last on May 15, 2020, but his death certificate mentioned March 16, 2021.

These are a few among the several instances in Hisar district of Haryana where death certificates were allegedly forged by family members to show the deceased as having registered with the Labour Department much before they passed away. The purpose was to fraudulently avail a grant of Rs 2.15 lakh, which was allowed to the families of deceased construction workers who were registered on the portal of the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Board. Labour Department officials had lodged seven FIRs in Hisar and Hansi, but the police were yet to act on these, said an official. “A reminder has been sent to the Hisar SP,” claimed the official.

Assistant Labour Officer (ALO) Sushil Kumar Sharma said they had lodged the FIRs on the basis of departmental inquiries. Sources said forged certificates had been found attached with applications received from Rampura Mohalla, and Gaibipur, Baas, Umra and Data villages in the district. The sources said they had detected several such instances where unscrupulous elements had applied online for seeking the grant. “On verification, the death certificates were found to be fake. The accused seemed to be operating as a racket and took benefits of loopholes in the online system,” they said.

Manoj Soni, a CITU (Centre of Indian Trade Unions) activist, alleged that some government officials may have been hand in glove with the accused families. “The higher authorities of the Labour Department are aware of the matter. There have been instances where the standard operating procedures for the disbursal of grants weren’t adhered to,” he said. Hansi police district spokesman Subhash said following a preliminary inquiry, “action was being taken as per law”.