BHOPAL: If you go by some of the photographs on smart cards used for making payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Rewa district,Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, the late ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh and other well-known people are all labourers, though with different names.

Many such cards, carrying pictures of celebrities but having names of locals, have been found in Rewa.

The cards were issued by Union Bank of India under a financial-inclusion scheme in 2009-10. The work of preparing the cards had been outsourced to a company called FINO. The cards were later linked to payments made under the rural employment scheme.

But it has been found that a card with the photo of the Chhattisgarh chief minister has been issued in the name of Mangal Sen of Kaitha Gangeo village of the district. Similarly, a card having Jagjit Singh's picture has been given out in the name of Rahul Dube, another resident of Kaitha Gangeo.


"Had the cards been used by anyone for a fraudulent purpose, I don't think he or she would have used the pictures of known celebrities," said district collector Shiv Narayan Rupla. "However, I have instructed the assistant general manager of Union Bank of India to look into the issue."

S K Singh, assistant general manager at UBI's regional office in Rewa, told TOI the smart cards also had fingerprint records of the beneficiaries. "So, prima facie I don't think any payment has been made using these cards," S K Singh said. "It is basically the work of some mischievous people associated with FINO. Also, as the company was paid on a per-card basis for the manufacture of these cards, there could be some problem at their end. We have sought details of all the cards suspected to be bogus, including the payment details, since the information about these cards is not on bank's server but on FINO's server. If anything wrong is found, we will take legal action against the guilty."

The bank officer said the cards were merely identity cards, having information about the beneficiary and an account. "A beneficiary can't make transactions from our branch using these cards," S K Singh said.

But Swapan Kumar Tiwari, a former employee of FINO who was allegedly sacked after he complained about the anomalies to the company's officials, said: "This is an issue related to corruption and thorough investigation should be carried out with the help of IT experts to ascertain the facts. I was sacked after I complained about it last June."