Bishram Chhatria and eight other labourers of Sunabeda village in Nuapada district, who have worked in a road improvement project under the MGNREGS in the year 2011, are yet to receive their wages.
Bishram and his family members had worked for more than a month and their due is Rs10, 500. likewise, Narayan Chhatria and Pushpa Barge have dues of Rs13,125 and Rs8,375 respectively. Another labourer Bhujbal Majhi is to get Rs7,000.
A total amount of Rs60,000 is outstanding towards payment of wage for ten labours against the CBDA (Chakotia Bhunjia Development Agency), which was the implementing agency for the road improvement project.
The CBDA is the nodal agency in the district for implementing activities for the development of the Chakotia Bhunjia tribe inhabiting Sunabeda plateau of Nuapada district.
The CBDA on the other hand claims that, a cheque bearing the number 635777 dated May 6, 2011 has been sent to the Head Post Office, Bhawanipatna vide order no- 134 dated May 17, 2011 for transferring the wage amount to the post office accounts of the labourers through the sub post office at Sunabeda. However, the amount has not been transferred to the accounts of the workers till now.
“We have discussed about this delay with the concerned authority several times. The Collector has also been appraised about this, but the payment is still pending,” said Bishram. “If the amount has been transferred to the sub-post office of Sunabeda, and the sub-post master has withheld the payment, then action should be initiated against him for not distributing the amount,” he added.
The officials talk about a lot of complicacies in implementation of this flagship programme, which are yet to be addressed in a proper way. “One of the glaring problems at present is lack of banking system in interior places like Sunabeda. The district administration has sent a list of unbanked gram panchayats of Nuapada district to the Finance Department, Government of Odisha requesting opening of bank Branches,” said DRDA PD Pradip Naik of Nuapada. “Out of 108 panchayats, only 21 panchayats have bank branches in the panchayat headquarters,” Naik revealed.
“There are also many other problems in MGNREGS which remain unaddressed. The difference of cost between the piece work and wage is one of them. The labourers do more work in a day when they are asked to dig pits and this higher output envisages higher payment that is more than double the prevailing wage rate,” said the officials of the Block office. They claimed that if a labourer works continuously for a week on contractual basis to dig earth, then his dues on the basis of daily wage passes on to the following week, which are adjusted in the muster rolls (MR) falsely and the delay is caused.
“Suppose she works for a week but in the MRs it is shown as more than a week of work depending on the output and continuous works by same labourers create a lot of problems for the officials to maintain the MRs,” they added.
These explanations of the officials are true, as for example, some labourers of Gumabahal village in Boden block worked in the Kureswar tank of their village for a few weeks, and subsequently, in the road improvement work for another week. By the time the dues of labourers in the tank work was adjusted, the season ended and MR generated for the same labourers for the road work had to be rejected. The workers are yet to get the wage even after a year of completion of the work.
The delay in wage payment due to such complications leads to a lot of confusion within the people who have worked in the projects. Urmila Punji and five other women of Gumabahal village had started digging earth in October last year in Kureswar tank improvement project but they have now forgotten how much they have worked. “The group breaks after a phase of work and it becomes difficult to remember who worked in which group in different phases, which leads to a problem in calculating the dues of each member,” said Urmila.
In most of the projects, the Gaon Sathi and the Gram Rojgar Sevak make some money by making false entry of some names or increasing the attendance of working labourers in the MRs. The labourers in Gumabahal village confirm this by providing details of the payment made to Rajman Jal, the husband of the Gaon Sathi of their village.
“Rajman took Rs2,000 from us when we brought Rs6,000 from our three pass books in the first phase work. He said that, it was deposited in our accounts by mistake” said Urmila.
Subash Punji and Armala Punji also say that they have paid Rs2,000 each to Rajamn after withdrawing the amount from their passbooks. “We had not worked in that phase, but the amount had been deposited in our accounts,” they added. Statements of Gaon Sathi, Rina Jal and Rajman also confirm that it is a regular practice.
“What can an official do, if such practices operate at field level with understanding between the labourers and the Gaon SathiIJ” asked a district level official. “The villagers never reveal about this until difference crops up between them,” he added.