From Our Correspondent
TURA, Oct 1: BJP MDC from Tura Bernard N Marak on Sunday urged Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to look into grievances with regard to central schemes being faced by the villagers of many blocks under West Garo Hills District and urged that any anomalies be rectified at the earliest.
The MDC’s request comes following his tour of the various blocks falling under the district last week.
Among others, Bernard raised the issue of incomplete Aadhar seeding at the banks purportedly due to lack of manpower, electricity and network.
(Contd on P-4)
Bernard moves CM, flags issues…
(Contd from P-3) “I believe this can be rectified by the District Administration through the direction provided by your office. The Administration can direct all the mobile service providers and the banks to complete Aadhar seeding at the earliest so that the beneficiaries are not deprived of their dues. This is affecting even the students who are anticipating scholarships. Also the mobile companies can be strongly requested to enhance their services as now NREGA attendances need to be uploaded online failing which villagers lose a day’s wages in the VECs,”
The Tura MDC said, while also requesting the allotment of some funds for mass awareness on the need to take Aadhar seeding seriously and complete it before December 31, this year.
The Tura MDC also raised the issue of those blocks with less manpower where they do not have sufficient rooms for officers to function properly which in turn, is causing immense difficulty to the staffs to work freely and to meet the targets in time.
“In every block there are approximately 15 gram sevak circles but there are hardly enough gram sevaks to cover their GS circles. Surprisingly, in some blocks gram sevikas (females) are doing duties to cover the areas which is very unfortunate and against norms. Therefore, you are requested to kindly fill up the vacant posts for gram sevaks and other vacant posts thus providing jobs for the youths of the State,” Bernard said.
The MDC also sought the provision of better infrastructure in all blocks. Pointing out that the employees under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) are yet to receive their salaries for last 6 months, he requested that the matter be taken up with the concerned heads of departments.
The issue of beneficiaries funds not being released on time by the state government leading to many difficulties in the blocks was also raised by Bernard.
“In many blocks, the backlog dues are huge and payment for materials are not released in time even though the funds were sanctioned by the centre. The beneficiaries seldom get 100 days work and above that they are paid less than the amount due to them and on a contrary they are made to believe that the Centre Government is not releasing the funds to them is an utter lie. Such absurd excuses blaming the center should be avoided at all cost. There are agents who are attempting to malign the Centre Government’s noble initiative under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Online payment through PFMS should be made mandatory so that there are no leakages of fund and that the beneficiaries are not deprived,” he said.
The Tura MDC also alleged the presence of agents posing as middle men who demand huge amounts from the beneficiaries on the pretext of providing central schemes like PMAY, IHHL, NREGA etc.
According to Bernard, VECs are also being run by some agents without proper election and political activists who are dominating the weaker sections of the villages which he said, should not happen in execution of centrally sponsored schemes.
“I want to add that old age pension, widow pension, specially abled schemes also are due to the beneficiaries. Modi’s free rice are being charged and are reaching lesser than expected as your government is not providing carriage charges which should also be rectified. And failure of JJM in the villages is one of the major issues in the villages which Iam putting forward for your acknowledgement,” he went on to claim.