SHILLONG: Upper Klew village in Ri-Bhoi District, now infamous for the inclusion of dead men as beneficiaries of PDS thanks to the defective system of governance, is once again in the news for depriving children below the age of six of ICDS schemes.
A group of journalists on Tuesday visited Klew village, 60 km from Shillong, for the second time after June last year, and found as many as 26 children under the age of six were being deprived of benefits under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) which was meant for improving their nutrition level.
Moreover, children below the age of 14 in Unitarian School in Upper Klew were not being provided with mid-day meals.
CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing, who accompanied the journalists to Upper Klew on Tuesday, said that five residents were not getting their old age pension and as many as 14 persons were being deprived of getting their EPIC. When the headman Pholning Makdoh, who is also a Sordar, was contacted to find out the reason for which the EPIC was being denied to the people, he said that they were ‘outsiders’.
Local residents of Upper Klew are also miffed over the fact that the metallic road in the village ends right outside the residence of the headman; whereas the villagers have to use the dusty road to travel.
Besides lack of proper roads, the village is also suffering from non-implementation of rural electrification schemes.
Many families of Upper Klew village are also not getting the facilities under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Earlier in June last year, a spot visit by a group of journalists revealed that the money meant for implementation of NREGS scheme was misused by the village authorities and signatures of some beneficiaries were also forged by the members of the Village Employment Council to avail the money.
There were also allegations from the villagers that the agriculture land which belonged to the community was being sold by the headman.
