Groundxero : 2 October, 2023
Amidst high drama, leaders, members and supporters of Trinamul Congress (TMC), who have reached Delhi today morning and began their two-day protest against the Union Government at Rajghat over the alleged delay in the release of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and other central government schemes to the State of West Bengal, were forcibly dispersed by the Delhi Police from the Raj Ghat premises during the party’s dharna. Abhishek Banerjee who was briefing the media was forced to abandon the press meet midway and leave the venue. The police vacated the main thoroughfare around Raj Ghat removing all protestors from the area and set up barricades on the road leading to Rajghat premises.
Earlier today, about 2000 TMC members and supporters landed in New Delhi in buses after the Indian Railways allegedly refused to rent out special trains to take the workers to Delhi pleading unavailability of rakes. The TMC has called for the two-day ‘Dilli Cholo: A fight for our rights!’ protest in the national capital demanding immediate transfer of unpaid Central funds to West Bengal, chief amongst which are payment of 3000 crores of MGNREGA wages due since December 2021.
The party was reportedly denied permission to protest at Jantar Mantar, so they decided for a sit-in by its MPs and state ministers at Rajghat on October 2, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and are likely to hold a rally of the MGNREGA job card holders from West Bengal on Tuesday. Abhisek Banerjee, the TMC second-in command, who is leading this protest, claimed that Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh has expressed his inability to meet the TMC representatives as he would not be in the national capital, though he is scheduled to meet BJP MPs from West Bengal. The TMC also alleged that the denial of trains as well as cancellations of a flight to New Delhi were part of an attempt by the ruling BJP party to scuttle its demonstration.
Dubbing the TMC’S Delhi jaunt over the issue of non-payment of NREGA wages as ‘hypocrisy’, Paschim Banga Khet Mazoor Samiti (PBKMS), a West Bengal based union of agricultural workers, which has been instrumental in both the passage and implementation of MGNREGA, in a statement said that the political drama surrounding the protest with its high visibility and extensive press coverage, however, misses the genesis of this problem. Alleging rampant corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA in West Bengal by the TMC leaders and administration, the agricultural workers’ union said that the TMC needs to first put its own house in order before it protests about the unfairness of the Union Government. It must move from a party-controlled corrupt administration to a people-controlled clean implementation of MGNREGA, the union added.
The Union Government had invoked Section 27 of the MGNREGA Act for stoppage of funds on March 9th 2022. According to its communication of that date, the Union Rural Development ministry claimed that despite giving various directions, advisories and orders since 2019, the State Government had not taken adequate correctional steps. The last Fund Transfer Order (FTO) was paid by the Government of India on 16th December 2021 and since then no wages have been paid. To date, wages to the extent of Rs 2800 crores remain unpaid to these workers. To make matters worse, no money has been sanctioned for the scheme for 2023-24 for West Bengal. Almost all NREGA work has been stopped in the state since mid-2022. 6.8 crores or about 60% of the West Bengal population uses NREGA as a source of income or as supplementary income. It is almost as if the entire rural working population of West Bengal has been labelled “thief ”, and has been excluded from the program.
PBKMS said that it has time and again suggested steps to the State Government to control corruption in the implementation of the scheme. It alleged that redressal mechanisms required in the MGNREG Act are almost non- functional and legally empowered District Magistrates and BDOs take practically no steps on complaints of corruption. PBKMS claimed that it was only recently after the stoppage of funds that the State Government appointed ‘Ombudsman’ in all districts. Demanding proper functioning of all these mechanisms, without party control, the statement issued by the union says :
The first and foremost is to ensure free flow of information to workers. Workers have no proof of having worked. Nor do they have information on the payments being made to others. All workers should be given pay slips with measurement of work done to ensure transparency. Wage payment through bank transfers should be done after public announcements and reading of the muster roll. Gram Sansad meetings should be organised every month, to announce payments as well as new schemes.
The most common complaint of workers is of their job cards being in the possession of a Panchayat functionary or a party goon belonging to the TMC. Pointing out this, PBKMS said that there is no need to travel to Delhi to deal with this problem.
On 21st July, the WB Chief Minister declared the “Khela Hobe” scheme, under which the State Government promised work to MGNREGA workers from State Government funds. PBKMS said, “We do not know of even a single worker who has got work under this scheme or a single BDO who has received written directions for implementation. Instead, applications for work by job card holders and our members are being refused by local authorities and job cards are being deleted for flimsy reasons.”
PBKMS said that while the TMC needs to take stern action to ensure that its party and its government implement MGNREGA properly, the BJP controlled Union Government is using budget cuts, delays in payments and low wages as ways of weakening MGNREGA and of ensuring that people’s demands for work remain unmet. It alleged that in the name of curbing corruption, the BJP government is using the introduction of technology to centralise the Act and to reduce the State Government’s and people’s access and control of the Act. It said that the introduction of Aadhar Based Payment System, electronic muster rolls, National Mobile Monitoring System, monitoring by drones etc. are all means of centralising the Act and making people’s access to work more and more difficult, without leading to any great improvement in reducing corruption.
On 06.06.2023, in a PIL filed by PBKMS (WPA(P)/ 237/2023), the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court directed the State Government and Central Government to give reasons for stoppage of work and non-payment of wages. However, despite mentioning the matter on multiple occasions, it has not come up for hearing till date. PBKMS said that while it is within the right of the Union Government to identify and arrange to punish those responsible for corruption in the welfare scheme, however, it must also stop crippling the Act with inadequate funds and delayed release and stop using technology to dent workers’ rights. PBKMS urged both the BJP and TMC to stop making MGNREGA an issue for scoring political points but ensure proper implementation of the Act. It demanded immediate payment of wages to those who have actually worked and have still not been paid.
There is no doubt that corruption is fairly widespread in MGNREGA in West Bengal as it is in many other BJP ruled states. However this does not mean that there is no genuine work being done in the state under the scheme. With the general elections coming up early next year, the political slugfest will intensify further between competing political parties. It is up to the democratic forces to stand in solidarity with the struggling workers and raise the issue that the entire rural working population of a state cannot be labelled as “thief ” and excluded from government welfare schemes. Steps that punish whole states and populations for the faults of some corrupt politicians and officials cannot be condoned.
Also read : The Problem of Unpaid NREGA Wages In West Bengal