Not far ago Jaggu Bhuiyan of Karma Tand in Panki block under Palamu district killed himself due to payment irregularities against the works done under the UPA flagship scheme MGNREGA. His death was not a rare case in this regard as Shiv Shankar of Tarhasi block and Tapas Soren of Bokaro had met the similar fate before.
Worrying is to know that NREGA labourers of Jharkhand have whopping Rs 28.45 crore due with the Government and the figure is counting.
latest data revealing the delayed payment status underlines that total of 345759 transactions involving Rs 2845.98 lakh are pending for various reasons during the financial year 2013-14. The amount is out of total 7105443 transactions made in the State in the period. The total payment made during the financial year has been Rs 590.90 crore.
“The figure is more than alarming for the State as poor as Jharkhand. If one has to judge the scheme based on 2-3 indicators this is the first and foremost indicator. The very purpose of the scheme has not been fulfilled that was not only to provide guaranteed employment but also hard cash in the hands of the most marginalised,” says Balram, a noted NREGA activist. Activists in this field provide several such examples in which the beneficiaries have sunk deep into debt to complete jobs such as well digging provided under the scheme.
“Kamesh Oraon of Padma panchayat of Manatu block in Palamu took Rs 40,000 loan to complete a well. He completed the job in April this year but had to pay more than Rs 15000 as bribe to get the bills cleared at various levels. After involving lots of technicalities which include e-FMS, digital signature and linking bank and post offices accounts with direct payment system the problem has aggravated in the State,” said James Herenj of Narega Sahayta Kendra, Manika in latehar district.
Incidentally, latehar tops among the districts with delayed payment involving Rs 5.69 crore and 69490 number of transactions. When contacted a senior official of Rural Development Department admitted about inordinate delay in labour payment but blamed the Centre for frequently changing the system and guidelines involved.
Though, Balram begs to differ. “This may be one of reasons. Several new things have been incorporated without any preparation at local level. There is lack of penetration of banks and account holders in rural areas and other infrastructures. But the State Government has not been able to present its vision to the Centre either. This is why they keep slapping fresh models of different States which miserably fail here.”
The situation has aggravated even further due to recent polls. Payments to the labourers are pending even for the month of January as officials were said to be busy in election related works. The attitude of administration is in any case hostile and hardly any application for unemployment allowance is received by the officials.
“Unemployment allowance has reduced just to a copy book word. No official wants to receive the application as they would have to answer for not providing jobs. Situation in latehar and nearby area is so that in the lean period like this when no agricultural activity takes place, the poor villagers are waiting to collect mahua and kendu leaves instead of working in NREGA,” said James Herenj.
In all this, scenes are not surprising in which herds of labourers are seen coming to towns in search of work and return without this in afternoon. And also bus-full of migrants leaving for other States. MGNREGA is waiting for a complete overhaul.