Monsoon brings happiness to farmers but at the same time it brings sorrow for thousands of landless families relying on MGNREGA for sustenance. With rain monsoon brings MGNREGA works to a complete standstill and dries earning avenues of poor.
MGNREGA activists were raising the concern at a conference on “Effective Implementation of MGNREGA- Strategies & Way Forward” organized today at Social Development Centre, Ranchi.
Fearing the negative impact of monsoon on the MGNREGA, independent watchdogs have begun clamouring for expediting works that are pending before rains undo works done so far. People involved in monitoring of schemes hold the view that once monsoon sets in soil cutting will stop and it will render thousands of workers jobless as most of the works under the social sector scheme covers digging of wells and ponds. Most of the wells are said to collapse due to rain and digging of ponds also becomes a cumbersome job due to water logging in the under
construction pond.
“A poor labourer usually becomes jobless after paddy sowing is complete. And work resumes in late July or in August. So livelihood becomes a challenge for labourers,” said MGNREGA activist Vishwanath Singh. Rain causes havoc and death due to collapse of a well and hence it emphasizes the need to allocate jobs according to the prevailing season. Moreover, once a well collapses the entire project requires following the process of reallocation from scratch which increases cost of the project.
According to an estimate worked out by Jharkhand NREGA Watch more than 10000 wells are pending in the State despite being sanctioned more than a year back and rain is likely to result in cost escalation because of associated danger.