Bhanjanagar: The Centresponsored Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has become a principal scheme for employment and helped in reducing rural unemployment in the country.
However, the scheme has failed to achieve desired success owing to various reasons at different points of time.
Moreover, preferential treatment in payment of wages, allegedly on caste basis, has also hit the success of the scheme. The wages are paid on the basis of whims of officials as per their preference for caste.
It has been alleged that now the Centre is not releasing funds in time for which it has become difficult to pay the job card holders in due time. The rule mandates that the job card holders have to be paid in every 15 days.
Any violation invites action against the concerned employees.
The Centre, by not releasing the funds to the bank accounts of the job card holders in due time, is violating the rule which it has framed. Such violation of rules is being witnessed for the last few years.
As a result, resentment is brewing among the people and particularly the job card holders in Ganjam district. Reports said that the Centre is yet to release the funds towards wages from the last week of December till now.
The labourers were last paid December 27. As a result, wages amounting to over Rs 1 crore are yet to be paid to the job card holders alone under Bhanjanagar block.
The job card holders who have worked for the forest department have also not been paid their wages. Consequently, they are also losing interest in their work due to non–payment of dues in time.
Moreover, the implementation of the scheme is also moving at a snail’s pace under the forest department. Workers are demotivated to work under the scheme in forest department.
The senior officials of the department have also expressed their displeasure on the slow implementation of the scheme.
Recently, a meeting was held in the local nursery where the senior officials stressed on preparing plan to create more and more man days.
Presiding over the meeting, DFO Abhaya Kanta Dalai stressed on proper and successful implementation of the scheme and providing works to more and more people.
When contacted, BDO Anil Kumar Sethi said the wages of the labourers are released into their bank accounts as soon as the fund is available for disbursal.
PNN