JOB CARD HOLDERS IN SELSELA CLAIM HUGE CORRUPTION. TURA, July 06: The Selsella block has been the biggest headache in the entire West Garo Hills (WGH) district in terms of allegations and counter allegations coming through from almost all VECs of the block. Cases of dual card holders, illegal appointments of VEC secretary and presidents and proxy voting have been coming through thick and fast. This time though, members of VEC Silkata filed a complaint against the president and secretary, along with the General Secretary (GS) for withholding money due to the MGNREGS card holders for jobs they had done. Interestingly, this time even deceased job card holders were among the people paid for jobs! The complaint also alleged political links in the process and asked for the removal of the president and secretary on the above grounds. The complainants alleged that the reconstituted VEC had taken up two earth works, one worth Rs 19,78,380 and the other worth Rs 19,82,380 during the year 2013-14. The first was for the construction of a road from Tompara to Ujenirvita and the other for the extension from Kolangkani River to Silkata. The complaint filed to the District Programme Coordinator (DPC) by job card holders posed a few very grave questions. “Our secretary (Sofiqul Islam) along with the Gram Sevak (Hussain Ali Sheikh) and the Technical Assistant (TA) have carried out only earth work on the said roads, but have withdrawn the money for 14 days of wages. That was a total of Rs 2030 per head for the 379 job card holders listed under the Silkata VEC,” alleged Surat Zaman, a job card holder. “They paid only Rs 700 against the withdrawn amount. They are still supposed to withdraw another 22 days of funds for the work, which we believe will definitely be misused,” added Nur Zaman. The workers have further alleged that the secretary and TA have carried out different work and submitted false signatures and thumb impressions, showing completion of work when it was not done. This had happened in the 2nd work order given, they said. “They have not even carried out a single day of work though they have withdrawn all the money. Where are the GS and TA in these cases as the work was not even started?” asked Hanowar Islam. The complainants have alleged that the VEC has also withdrawn money in the name of people who were dead. “Morima Biwi, Mohiron Bewa, Tobilla Bewa and Sonaton Bewa are all dead but their names are still being used by the VEC secretary,” said one of the complainants. The complainants have asked for a magisterial enquiry into the alleged fraud committed by the secretary along with the GS and the TA. “We believe there are political influences at work; however we demand the booking of the offenders under the appropriate sections of law. We would also like to ask for withholding payment for the rest of the pending work, amounting to 58 days of work, until the magisterial inquiry is completed,” said Bashirul Islam. “They have violated all norms under the MGNREGS guidelines and taken illegal advantage of the current situation. They have deprived us of Rs 1330 of our wages, an amount that is significant in nature and means a lot to us,” alleged Abdur Rafique.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 01:43:18 +0000
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