HT FOLLOW-UP: Ballia staff nurses’ recruitment racket:Extra ‘l’ in email ID, forged signature, fake letter among tactics of deception
Reply to postal and email queries concealed facts about fake joining letter and ensured undeserving candidates got the jobs
Forged replies sent by post, bogus signatures of officials and fake email were apparently the tactics used to get 15 people, including two women, appointed as staff nurses in Ballia even though they did not appear in the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) selection exam/process and did not deserve the job.
The probe into the racket that HT reported in the February 24 edition has begun at the health directorate.
The Ballia health office staff had sent an email to the office of the director general medical health, asking for confirmation of the joining letter produced by the candidates. The email was in addition to a clarification sought by post.
The reply came via an email that had an extra ‘l’ in the word ‘cell’ in the address.
While the actual email address was ‘monitoringcell.dg..@’, the fake mail address was ‘monitoringcelll.dg@..’ with an extra ‘l’. But this change wasn’t noticed, suggesting a bigger recruitment racket.
The alleged racket unravelled during a November visit by Ballia’s chief medical officer Dr Vijay Pati Dwivedi, who asked one of the nurses at the facility about the correct ratio for mixing ORS with water for dehydration patients. When the nurse failed to answer, Dr Dwivedi probed further with two more basic questions: how to maintain proper hand hygiene while working in wards, and what steps to take when a fever patient arrives. These were all fundamental concepts taught in first-year nursing. The nurse’s visible discomfort and inability to answer prompted the CMO to investigate her educational background and appointment details.
She was called to CMO’s office for further questioning and document verification. But the next day, she and 14 other staff nurses vanished from duty without information and didn’t come back for weeks.
The health department conducted an inquiry and a seven-member team found that their joining letters were forged. It took over three months to reach this conclusion.
Before this, each time the Ballia CMO’s office sent a query to the Lucknow health directorate about the documents, the reply indicated the letters were genuine.
The Ballia health office verified their joining details from the directorate of medical health in Lucknow both via registered post and email, which is considered the most confidential and authentic means to get a government letter/document verified from a government office.
Following the email verification, the Ballia health office issued salaries of these employees.
But CMO Dr Dwivedi sent a three-member team to Lucknow to physically go through HR files and cross-check with the joint director (nursing), who confirmed the signatures on registered post were not original and neither had they sent an email.
The extra ‘l’ in the email address exposed the fraud. Now, on the basis of an FIR lodged by the Ballia CMO, police are trying to trace the IP address of the email sent to the Ballia’s CMO office.
Congress Legislative Party leader in the UP assembly Aradhna Mishra ‘Mona’ said, “This government has failed on every front, especially when it comes to employment. So many paper leaks have been reported in this regime, but no one has been punished till date. The government has failed to take any appropriate action against such fake appointments. “
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ameeque Jamei said, “Such recruitment scams should not be taken lightly. People are getting recruited on fake appointment letters while those sitting in competitions are upset over paper leaks. This incident demands thorough investigation.”
“We are getting details of all the 15 appointments, and the others done in Ballia. Once this case is clear and it is understood how this fraud happened, we would check the need for probe into other such recruitments done in the past,” Dr RPS Suman said on Monday.
At the health directorate, the nursing cell and recruitment section staff were asked to check the documents related to the recruitment.
Meanwhile, Ballia chief medical officer Dr Vijay Pati Dwivedi got a verification done and found that the nursing school certificates of the 15 candidates were genuine.
“The high school, intermediate and GNM nursing documents were found genuine. However, the fact remains they obtained a job and took salary as staff nurses, for which they never participated in recruitment process,” the Ballia CMO said.