Keonjhar: In the absence of daily waging opportunities, scores of people of the Juanga tribe from various parts of Bansapal block in this district migrate to other districts and states in search of work.
This is indicative of the ineffective implementation of MGNREGS, which was supposed to provide earning opportunities to people through labour-intensive work.
Many youths have migrated outside of Talapnasanasa. They usually return home in the summer and try to find manual labour in their localities.
Though the government has fixed the daily wage at Rs 250, they get only Rs 150 a day. “Be it MGNREGS or any infrastructure development project, we fail to get work while the contractors bring people from outside the district and engage them in projects,” some youths lamented.
“In such a situation, we are bound to go outside for daily waging,” said some Juanga youths Mahendra Juanga, Jayram Juanga, Prafulla Juanga and Tuna Juanga.
The situation is more or less the same in Telkoi block. Machines are used instead of manual labour in several MGNREGS projects, it is alleged.
The Juanga Development Agency hardly comes out to help the tribals, the youths rued. They demanded that the district administration should take necessary steps in this direction.