Officials of the Labour Department in Punjab have come under the lens following reports that several construction workers in the state had received the lockdown relief multiple times.

Hundreds of construction workers received the interim relief of Rs 3,000, as announced by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, twice or thrice. In Jalandhar, 28 beneficiaries got Rs 6,000 extra. Some even received Rs 12,000 more than their entitlement, sources said.

The department has now asked assistant labour commissioners in various districts to recover the excess amount from such beneficiaries. Ironically, many construction workers have also complained of not having received the relief even once. Sources said data entry operators and the computer programmer deliberately credited the financial aid to some accounts in excess.