By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a case of irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),the (Village Employment Council) VECs and (Area Employment Council) AECs of the Pynursla Block have alleged that they along with the job card holders have been misled by the Block office in terms of disbursement of funds to the block.
Representatives of AECs and VECs under Pynursla Block has alleged that out of the total amount of fund sanctioned for 2011-12 which is Rs 13 crore 2 lakhs 46 thousand two hundred and thirty five, only Rs 3 crore 79 thousand lakh 23 thousand 4 hundred and 85 were received by the office of the programme officer.
The organisation has claimed that there are funds which have been diverted and demanded a clarification from the government on the whereabout of the siphoned funds. “It seems that the funds have been diverted to someone’s bank account or pocket,” Chairman of Saitbakon VEC Hawson K Khongsit said.
“We demand from the government to immediately release the sanctioned amount of Rs 9,12,72,735 and to remove all the unfit officials functioning in this block as they bring more headache than support”, Chairman of Saitbakon VEC Hawson K Khongsit said.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Khongsit alleged that it is the weakness of the District Rural Development Agency, East Khasi Hills that has put the block in such a dire state.
“If other districts receive huge amount of funds, why can’t our district? If it is not the weakness of the DRDA in our district, then what can be the reason?” Khongsit questioned.
Further, the VEC members also alleged that out of the total days of work sanctioned for every job card holder which is 100 days, only 70 days has been allotted. “As per the act of the scheme, each job card holder is bound to get 100 days of work”, Khongsit asserted. They have also claimed that the job card holders did not receive their payment despite attending work for 70 days between September 2011 and February 2012.
Meanwhile, the Block Development Officer of Pynursla C & RD Block, PS Tynsong, had, earlier, clarified that wages cannot be disbursed to the job card holders following the non-availability of funds in the district.He also clarified that according to the guidelines, all the projects will be sanctioned for only 70 days in the first stage and after all the blocks have reached the given target, the funds for the remaining 30 days would be sanctioned.
“Due to the inability of these blocks to achieve the given target, the district is hesitant to sanction the remainder of the 30 days of wages to the job card holders,” Tynsong said in a letter addressed to Chairman of Umniuh Tmar VEC, Rustan Mawkhlieng, recently.
It is learnt that within the Pynursla Block, there are 98 VECs and 23 Area Employment Councils (AECs) with a total number of 11,422 registered job card holders.