| MGNREGA benefits 'influential' in Uri, deserving forced to bite dust | | | S Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
BARAMULLA, Mar 11: Misappropriation of funds under centrally sponsored scheme MGNREGA has come to fore in the border town of Uri in this district of north Kashmir. Blue eyed persons are getting lion's share while as commoners are being ignored on all fronts.
"There is a huge bungling of funds worth lakhs in Boniyar Tehsil of Uri town under centrally sponsored scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)", sources told Early Times.
Sources said that MGNREGA scheme was designed to provide job guarantee for at least 100 days in rural areas, so that every poor family could benefit. They said that it is all vice-versa in the Boniyar Tehsil since the work is allotted to all blue eyed persons of Rural Development Department.
"The Sarpanchs and other political activists have got lion's share for which huge amount was taken in the form of bills, whereas fact of the matter is that poor and needy people were ignored on all fronts," sources said.
A delegation from Niloosa block of Boniyar narrated their ordeal to Early Times and said that job cards for 90 days were provided to a small hamlet of Reshwari of ward- 7 comprising of at least 30-35 households in Reshwari village.
"Despite issuing job cards to the poor people no work was allotted to them as the work was sanctioned to some influential people, including AEEs/ JEs/ VLWs who happened to be the close relatives of some employees of the department concerned," said Mohammad Afzal Khan, Arif Khan, Mohammad Iqbal Khan, Bashir Ahmad Khan, Amin Khan and others of Reshwari.
They alleged that from past five years work leading to 20 lakhs was illegally sanctioned to some political activists including Sarpanchs, Panchs and other influential people, adding the already work done was repeated continuously to drawn fake bills on fictious works.
"We approached BDO many times in recent past to take notice of illegal work and we requested him to take on spot verification of work, but he gave a deaf ear to our listening," they said. The delegation produced a set of documents as a proof of wrong doings.
One of the documents reads, "the copy is submitted in original to the BDO Boniyar-Bijhama with the request that the inhabitants of ward seven (7) complain against the work allotted by your office no: BB/MGNREGA 2015-16-1491-96 dated 17-12-2015." |
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