Agartala: Dhalai district administration in North Tripura has deployed additional forces in Chowmanu rural development block following sudden spark of violence by Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes beneficiaries demanding immediate clearance of their dues. About 500 tribal MGNREGS beneficiaries had last night beaten up block development officer (BDO) Shanti Ranjan Chakma and three others accusing them of unnecessarily delaying the payment of the beneficiaries for past two weeks.
The injured were treated in Chowmanu hospital but the BDO, who was in a critical state, was shifted to Agartala Govt Medical College (AGMC) later. According to Mr Chakma, as per the direction of the state government he had offered jobs to around 600 MGNREGS cardholders of four Panchayats in the last week of March. But the fund was not credited to the beneficiaries account till April 5.
”I told the cardholders that they will get their payment by April 9 last as there was delay in disbursement of funds to the state.
However, the money was not transferred due to some technical error at the bank upon which the beneficiaries got enraged,” Mr Chakma said. He said the beneficiaries had gheraoed his office last morning. The block officials tried to get the fund transferred to the beneficiaries account directly from the bank but failed.The State Bank of India did not transfer the money to the beneficiaries despite issuing transfer order two days ago. SBI officials informed that due to problem in main server of the bank, the system became malfunctioned. But the beneficiaries did not listen to any excuse for their long dues, he stated. Meanwhile, District Magistrate (Dhalai) Milind Ramteke stated that BDO was not at fault.
In the present MGNREGS fund management system, after issuance of payment order to individual beneficiaries, the money is transferred from the state accounts directly. BDOs are only doing the paper works to execute project. But it is unfortunate; the beneficiaries, including women, thrashed the BDO and other officers.
‘‘We had to install police pickets in the block last night’’,Mr Ramteke said. The administration lodged FIR against the mob and requested police and public representatives to restore normalcy in the area.
‘‘The Chowmanu is under Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) and is also going to poll on May 3. We have taken extra measure to maintain peace. I personally spoke to the beneficiaries in the BDO office last night that before Monday there is no chance of getting payment. The money is with the bank and the amount is about Rs 2 crore. We cannot make any arrangement in between for payment though we understand the hardship of the poor tribals’’, he added. (UNI)
