Thousands of daily-wage labourers, widows and old-aged persons in Birsa block of Balaghat district will be deprived of Holi festivities due to non-payment of dues pending for last three months.
Songudda village sarpanch Satu Singh Dhurve informed that dues under Vidhwa Pension Scheme, Destitute Pension Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and other welfare schemes have not been paid for last three months which is causing considerable dissatisfaction among the affected persons.
"The village panchayats have issued the cheques for all the beneficiaries and labourers but the bank officials are dilly-dallying in transferring the money," Dhurve said on Wednesday.
He said that people in nearly 10 gram panchayats including Songudda, Dabri, Darkassa, Tebaria, Adori, Gummur, lahenga Didori, Dullapura, Dhundhun Varda and others are affected due to this.
"The gram panchayats have bank accounts with the Syndicate Bank branch in the block, while the labourers and other beneficiaries have accounts in the Cooperative Bank. The Bank officials are acting arbitrarily. Panchayats have issued the cheques, but money is not being transferred," Dhurve alleged.
"The situation in these villages is very tense. The sarpanch of these villages are hiding from the villagers who are very angry as the payments have not been made even on occasion of Holi. This is a naxal-affected area.
The disaffected villagers can be easily misguided by the Maoists," Dhurve said.
When informed about the allegation, Birsa block Chief Executive Officer (CEO) RN Shrivastava said that he is not aware of such situation.
"Yet delays in payment cannot be completely overruled as the locality is in a very remote part of the district. Banks are reluctant to open branches in the area," he said.
"However, the situation will completely change in next 10 to 15 days. The Central Bank of India has been roped in to provide services in the area through appointing Banking Correspondents (BCs) who will visit from door to door to disburse payments and other financial benefits," he added.