Waiting For A Promotion? In Chhattisgarh Department, 11 Dead People Got One

Some people spend years waiting for a promotion, doing everything they can to be eligible for one: from working long hours to being extra nice to the boss.

But here, the dead have been promoted, with - obviously - no effort on their part. 

A recruitment scam has surfaced in Chhattisgarh's Tribal Welfare Department, where not only were more candidates appointed than advertised, but 11 dead employees also got promotions, 10 years after the initial recruitment process. 

In 2013, the Tribal Welfare Department advertised 559 vacancies for Class IV positions, but ended up appointing 605 candidates. According to the terms, newly hired employees were to be paid a collector-grade salary only after three years of employment. However, from the very first day, they began receiving a sum of Rs 10,890 per month instead of the Rs 4,943 they were entitled to. 

It took 16 months before officials noticed the irregularities, and the state had already suffered a loss of over Rs 5.7 crore by then.

A decade later, when the department moved to regularise the employees, 11 of those listed had already died, but their names appeared in the promotion list. These included: Phulkumari - Died: May 22, 2021; Ganesh Ram - Died: November 18, 2016; Parakhit Kumar - Died: September 11, 2017; Champa Chauhan - Died: December 2, 2018; Rakesh Sidar - Died: May 2019; Gulab Banjare - Died: April 19, 2021; Ajit Toppo - Died: July 5, 2017; Sitaram Rathia - Died: February 17, 2020; Rekha Sidar - Died: February 7, 2021; Jitendra Sidar - Died: October 7, 2020; Dayaram - Died: July 7, 2018.

Following a complaint, the department launched an internal investigation that confirmed several discrepancies. As a result, Raigarh's then Assistant Commissioner, Avinash Shrivas, was suspended. However, no further action was taken, and the case was put in cold storage until it was raised in the state Assembly. This prompted a second investigation order on April 9 this year.

The Congress has accused the BJP of institutionalised corruption. "The recruitment process took place under the BJP government. Complaints at the time have now been proven. The BJP's main business is give-and-take deals," said Congress Spokesperson Dhananjay Thakur.

The BJP, however, dismissed the incident as a clerical mistake. "This is not corruption, just a human error. The government has acted as soon as it came to light," said BJP Spokesperson Rajiv Chakraborty.