Woman declared ‘dead’ in TN gas leak tragedy alive in Andhra, probe exposes Aadhaar fraud

Bhubaneswar: A govt probe into the Tamil Nadu ammonia gas leak tragedy has revealed an Aadhaar card racket where multiple labourers have been securing jobs using one or even fictitious cards.Turns out, an Odia woman named Purnima Juanga, who supposedly died in the gas leak, was found to be alive and working in Andhra Pradesh, and the Aadhaar card registered in the seafood processing factory in Tiruvallur district, was not hers, raising serious questions about the identity verification process used for recruiting workers.An inquiry by the labour and ESI department in Keonjhar has revealed that Aadhaar cards belonging to other individuals were used to get jobs for many workers at the factory.

“They were reportedly taken to the factory by Srikant Juanga, who had earlier worked there as a supervisor and was familiar with its recruitment practices,” said Keonjhar district labour officer (DLO) Akash Bisoyi.According to him, family members of the victims alleged that Srikant arranged jobs for some women using forged or other people’s Aadhaar documents. “Adolescent girls who did not possess Aadhaar cards were allegedly provided documents belonging to other individuals by Srikant,” Bisoyi said.

“Purnima is alive and currently working in Andhra Pradesh,” added Bisoyi.Officials said the women who died were part of a group of 18 to 20 workers, mostly from Rangamatia village under Telkoi block, who had travelled to Tamil Nadu last Oct to work at the seafood processing unit.Tamil Nadu’s health department said nine workers died in the incident — seven from Odisha and two from Assam — but the Odisha govt could confirm six deaths, stating that the identity of one of the deceased is yet to be established.

That’s because the person earlier thought to be dead has been found to be alive.State labour commissioner Indramani Tripathy said similar discrepancies have been detected in the records of other workers. “These revelations have complicated efforts to identify all the victims and verify the employment records of workers affected by the gas leak. Officials are cross-checking Aadhaar details, mobile numbers and village-level records to establish the true identities of those employed at the factory,” Tripathy said.Bisoyi said the govt is already probing the Aadhaar card fraud and after the last rites of the deceased, the local labour office will file a police complaint against middleman Srikant Juanga, who is currently on the run.Most of the workers belonged to the Juanga community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), and had migrated to Tamil Nadu in search of work. Families of the deceased are largely dependent on agricultural labour and forest produce for their livelihood.CM Mohan Charan Majhi enhanced the ex-gratia for each deceased from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. On Tuesday, the bodies of five workers were airlifted from Chennai to Bhubaneswar and later transported to their native villages for the last rites.