The BJP on Saturday alleged that the AAP Government introduced the "Lalu model" in a new avatar in Delhi and bungled crores of rupees by enlisting fake names as beneficiaries under the construction workers' welfare board. It is "Delhi's Lalu model," alleged Union Minister Anurag Thakur at a Press conference, a day before the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls.
Rashtriya Janta Dal supremo Lalu Prasad was convicted in the fodder scam of Bihar and was in jail in cases related to it. "There (Bihar), cattle feed was gobbled up, here (Delhi) labourers' right were denied," Thakur claimed and alleged that Kejriwal and "his friends" bungled crores in the name of welfare of construction workers in Delhi. The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government has found that "ghost" workers were disbursed funds to the tune of Rs 900 crore by the AAP government's Labour department, official sources had said earlier.
In 2018, the ACB had registered a case after they found bogus registration of employees under the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.
"Shramik scam is a very shameful scam as it has been found in investigation so far that more than half amount i.e. about Rs 450 crore has been allotted in fake names. The Kejriwal government did not provide even minimum facilities to workers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bengal and other states working in Delhi during Covid period and forced them to migrate from Delhi amid the pandemic.
Kejriwal has presented Lalu's model in a new form. It has been found that there were fake names, addresses and mobile numbers of persons registered as construction workers. Even 'kachori' sellers and taxi drivers were enlisted as employers," Thakur said, showing a bundle of papers.
Thakur said that the Kejriwal government is such a government which has done scam in not just any one work but in all its works. DTC Bus Scam, School Scam, Liquor Scam, Hawala Scam, Advertisement Scam and the most shameful of all now Labour Assistance Fund Scam has come to the fore.
Official sources had earlier said a preliminary inquiry by the ACB found "fraudulent disbursal" of funds to the tune of Rs 900 crore to "bogus and ghost" workers by the Labour department of the Delhi government.
"There are names of people in the lists from UP and Haryana. Who is responsible for bungling the funds of the construction workers in Delhi," the minister said, reading out names and their addresses." Sources had earlier said a random survey of registration papers by the ACB showed that 424 out of 800 were fake. Over 17 lakh persons have been registered with Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (DBOCWWB) as construction workers.
The Kejriwal government had provided financial assistance of Rs 5,000 each to registered construction workers to help them during the lockdown imposed due to Covid. Even last month, the Delhi government had announced a relief of Ra 5,000 each to registered construction workers as relief due to pollution-related ban on construction activities in the city.