JOIN USAction likely for 'denial' of jobs
According to the terms of the scheme, people who register should be provided jobs within 15 days of registration and in case of failure, they must be paid minimum wages.
However, over 200 villagers of Shapur Gram Panchayat have been waiting for jobs even after three months of submitting Form No.6, the prescribed format for registration. They are now planning legal recourse against the Gram Panchayat secretary and Panchayat Development Officer. The initiative is led by MGNREGS Implementation Committtee.
Projects identified
Two probable projects have been identified in Hale Somarasanahalli, Nandamballi, Siresandra, Neelakantapura, Dodnahalli, Thippasandra, Yaramghatta, Shapur, Abbani, Hollamballi and Agrahara Somarasanahalli.
But the villagers, who submitted registration forms on August 23 are yet to be allotted work.
“The GP secretary had asked us to work in Thippasandra and Neelakantapura, the villages situated at a distance of about five km. But, women and aged persons had sought work at a nearby village as it is impossible for them to tread that long. The GP secretary did not allot work and instead furnished wrong information to the officers claiming that villagers refused to work,” Committee secretary B Anjinamma told Deccan Herald.
Anjinamma said the GP secretary had sought a list of development work to be carried out in respective villages and such a list covering 11 villages was also submitted.
While the list has been approved, the jobs are yet to be allotted, she complained.
Arrears of wages
The officers loose their cool if they are reminded of the rule that jobs should be provided at the villages of beneficiaries. They frown whenever Form No.6 is filed in groups.
The labourers who worked under the scheme last year are yet to get their wages. The villagers are being told that they will have to forego jobs this year in lieu of arrears of wages, the villagers alleged.
The MGNREGS is embroiled in similar controversies elsewhere in the district.
More than 800 eligible beneficiaries of Urigili, Totli and Toradevandahalli villages had submitted a complaint to the Legal Services Authority last September alleging that officers were refusing to register them for the Scheme and arrears of wages.