From Our Correspondent
TURA: Accusations of political interference and illegal appointment of a fresh village employment council (VEC) against the wishes of the job card holders of Chibinang village under Selsella development block have surfaced with villagers pointing a finger against the Phulbari MLA and power minister A T Mondol in the issue.
Over three hundred job card holders of Chibinang have lodged a complaint with the BDO citing illegal reconstitution of their VEC with the appointment of a new secretary allegedly bypassing the necessary norms and guidelines.
The State elections are round the corner and the minister is facing strong opposition from other candidates in Phulbari assembly constituency of West Garo Hills district.
The Selsella BDO also stands accused of going ahead and reconstituting the VEC without holding a public meeting with the villagers as mandatory while setting up a village council. The Chibinang VEC was constituted over three years ago by the then BDO and one Mominul Islam was made the secretary along with Habibor Rahman as president and Nurin Nehar as woman member.
Under the elected VEC a major embankment project to protect land from erosion by the Rongai river and running into several lakhs was taken up. The current bills for the ongoing work of embankment on Rongai river with boulder sausages and pitch has reportedly touched Rs. 13.12 lakh and the sudden decision to reconstitute the VEC by the present BDO has led to an uproar among the villagers who claim political interference to MGNREGS works.
However, the present BDO of Selsella has allegedly replaced the existing VEC members with one Samsul Hoque as the new secretary, Mispal Mondol as president and Mojira Bibi as lady member without holding any open gram Sabha meeting with the villagers which is mandatory.
The ground for the reconstitution of the VEC was reportedly on allegations leveled by the new secretary that Mominul Islam happened to be from Assam.
Interestingly, the new VEC secretary Samsul Hoque is under criminal investigation for obstructing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme work on the embankment and threatening the villagers in August 2010. Despite the ongoing case against the accused, the BDO has allegedly gone ahead and appointed Hoque as a VEC secretary.
