Sinha, who will be visiting Latehar and Bokaro on Saturday to find out more about the murder of NREGS activist Niyamat Ansari, told The Telegraph from Delhi, “We do get reports of corruption in the implementation of MGNREGS from other states, too, but not about killing of those involved in the implementation, that too in such quick succession.”
As many as six persons, either working as activists to stem corruption or as labourers in the scheme, have paid with their lives in various districts of Jharkhand, including Bagoder, Hazaribagh, Bokaro and Palamau, since 2008 (see chart).
Ansari, an aide of economist and architect of the scheme Jean Dreze, was lynched by Maoists on March 2 in Latehar, while barely a month ago on February 21, labourer Sabbal Mahato (50) died after he was beaten up by a Bokaro contractor when he sought work.
“I happen to be the senior most official of the rural development department, which is implementing the Centre’s flagship scheme. I want to visit victims’ families and meet officials to get first-hand information,” Sinha, who was a deputy commissioner of Ranchi in the ’70s, maintained.
Records will show that the senior official’s concern isn’t misplaced.
Lalit Mehta, another associate of Dreze and Gram Swaraz Abhiyan activist in Palamau, was killed in May 2008. The state government was forced to order a CBI probe after statewide protests.
Kameshwar Yadav, an MGNREGS activist of Khatauri village of Deori block in Giridih district, was shot dead by unidentified persons in June 2008.
A member of the CPI-ML (Liberation), he was involved in exposing corrupt middlemen.
Tapas Soren and Turia Munda committed suicide in Hazaribagh and Bundu respectively after they were denied full wages, exposing yet another aspect of embedded corruption.
Gurjeet Singh, one of the several MGNREGS ombudsmen appointed by the state government, however, said that the killings could not be considered as indicators of the quality of implementation of the rural job scheme in Jharkhand.
He said there was an undeclared struggle between the higher levels of the bureaucracy and lower level functionaries. While officials at the state headquarters were well meaning, the bureaucracy at the grassroots was corrupt.
“The presence of Maoists has added another angle. Unlike in Chhattisgarh, the rebels here are in a nexus with contractors and see the activists as enemies,” he added.
State MGNREGS commissioner Ajoy Kumar Singh said despite “teething problems” , Jharkhand had used around Rs 1,000 crore in the current fiscal having given work to 16.18 lakh BPL families out 38.37 lakh. Around 90,000 families had got more than 100 days’ work in a year.