The social audit, conducted by an NGO, in various districts in the State, has found huge discrepancies in the muster roll prepared by the Government officials under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
The social audit conducted under Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS)-MGNREGS campaign has detected that the muster rolls across various blocks in Palamau, Gumla and Daltonganj districts carry the names of locals who had never worked under the national rural job scheme. On the other hand, names of the labourers who had actually worked had gone missing. Besides, several other irregularities have been reported.
In Pandwa block of Kajari panchayat the case of manipulating the muster roll has surfaced.
An irrigation well had been constructed in the financial year 2009-10 with a cost of Rs1, 81,950 in Batsara village of the locality. “And it was found during the audit that those who worked in construction could never get wages because their names were missing in the muster rolls. Instead, the names of other persons were found,” the audit report suggested.
State head of PACS Jharkhand Jonshon Topno said, “If the developmental works being undertaken under MGNREGA are implemented properly, migration of work force and human trafficking from the State will stop. But there are very few cases when works are done with good intentions”
During the audit conducted in Karni village in Dumari block under Gumla district 67 workers said that they had worked for construction of roads between Karni and Sichaipath.
But they claimed that they had not been paid the remuneration yet. Their plea to panchayat representatives and the rojgar sewaks for facilitating the payment was of no avail.
In Sarogo block many workers including Jharia Oraon, Tebba Oraon, Bindu Devi claimed that they had not been paid for the woks they had done in 2007-08 under MGNREGA. Several mukhiyas supported the claims of the workers.
A Central government official and senior social audit facilitator lalit Kumar said, “The workers who work under MGNREGA should get the remuneration in time. But rarely do they get paid in time. No action is taken even if the beneficiaries lodge a complaint with the officials concerned,” he said.The MGNREGS is UPA’s flagship programme that is projected as the world’s largest welfare schemes run by the government. But in the State the schemes has run into troubles.