State MGNREGS commissioner Ajoy Kumar Singh, who is in Delhi to pursue the matter, told The Telegraph today that Union rural development ministry officials categorically refused to release funds meant for the two districts citing a pending request for a CBI inquiry into the killings.
Ten districts are still to get a single rupee of MGNREGS funds meant for the 2011-12 fiscal, which should have been released by the first week of April. The districts are Bokaro, Latehar, Chatra, Lohardaga, Hazaribagh, Koderma, Ranchi, Seraikela-Kharsawan, West Singhbhum and Ramgarh.
Both Niyamat Ansari and Subal Mahto were associated with the flagship programme. While Ansari, the activist, was killed on March 2 for trying to free the scheme from clutches of middlemen in Latehar, Mahto, the labourer, died in Bokaro on February 18.
“The Union ministry officials agreed to release funds for eight districts within the next fortnight, but refused to consider Bokaro and Latehar,” said Singh, speaking over phone from Delhi.
As part of the next instalment, Rs 200 crore would be made available in a week or fortnight for the remaining eight and other districts. The eight districts were not given money so far due to technical reasons related to data update.
For the 2011-12 fiscal, Rs 1,532 crore was approved for the state, which is 90 per cent of the total MGNREGS budget for Jharkhand. The remaining 10 per cent will be borne by the state. So far, the Centre has released Rs 347 crore for the scheme.
Earlier, the Centre had asked the state to have the CBI probe Ansari and Mahto’s death. Ansari, a close aide of MG NREGS architect and member of National Advisory Council Jean Dreze, was killed in Latehar allegedly by Maoists at the behest of contractors.
Mahto, on the other hand, was thrashed by contractors in a Bokaro village and succumbed to his injuries later. However, the state is yet to heed the Centre’s request on the probe.
A central team led by social activist and member of National Advisory Council Aruna Roy visited the state early this week to advise the state on proper implementation of the scheme. The team’s visit followed that of Union rural development secretary B.K. Sinha’s in March. Sinha had criticised the poor implementation of the scheme, while hinting at a contractor-mafia nexus.
One of the points raised by Roy’s team was delayed payment of wages. The MGNREGS commissioner accepted that timely payment was still an issue and the department was working towards improving things.
“The delay occurs because of payments being made through post-offices. We are trying to switch to banks,” he said.
To make the scheme more transparent and efficient, the MGNREGS commissioner added that panchayat secretariats would be provided computers, which wouldbe connected with the headquarters through VSAT. Where there was no power, the authorities would put up solar panels.
In order to minimise the role of middlemen and contractors, “participatory planning” was being envisaged.