Minister orders probe into job scheme fraud
CH NEWS, BENGALURU Karnataka's rural administration is stepping up. State Minister Eshwar Khandre has ordered a strict high-level investigation into an alarming scam involving fake GPS images under the rural employment guarantee program. Recent media reports uncovered a clever fraud in Koppal district. Local worksite supervisors, found a way to trick the official attendance system. Instead of bringing wage laborers to actual fields, these supervisors played pre-recorded work videos on a secondary phone screen. They then snapped GPS-tagged photos of that video using the official mobile application to log fake attendance. This sneaky trick has cost the state dearly. Officials estimate a daily loss of 20,000 to 30,000 rupees of public funds paid out for work that never actually happened. Sometimes, heavy machinery was used illegally while human attendance was marked on paper to drain funds. To stop such corruption, the government previously made it mandatory to upload live GPS photos through the National Mobile Monitoring System app. Corrupt individuals figured out loopholes to bypass the high-tech safeguard. Taking matters seriously, Minister Khandre wrote a formal directive to top department secretaries. He ordered an inquiry led by a senior officer of Joint Director Rank. The investigating team must submit a detailed report within four days, including strict punishment recommendations for anyone found guilty. Furthermore, the Minister instructed officials to consult technology experts immediately. The goal is to upgrade the current mobile application and block all technical workarounds. Authorities want to ensure that every single rupee reaches genuine rural workers who toil hard under the sun, rather than falling into the hands of corrupt middlemen. Citizens across the state now wait for the final inquiry report and hope for clean governance.
