Malda has a due of almost Rs 354 crore in the 100 day work scheme. Two years have passed but the arrears have not yet been sanctioned by the Central government. Besides, the Union government has also withheld unpaid wages even after working on projects under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
This has left at least 2 lakh 50 thousand job card holders in the district hopeless. Among them, several workers went to Delhi, as part of the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) movement, to claim their dues.
Additionally, crores of rupees of construction materials were also not approved.
Vaibhav Choudhary, Additional District Magistrate (General), said: “About Rs 354 crore is due to the Central government for the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The project has been done but a huge number of job card holders in Malda have not received their wages. A total of Rs 51 crore 83 lakh is due for wages of workers. The amount of arrears for construction materials and others amounts to Rs 303 crore 1 lakh. Among the 15 blocks in the district, Chanchal-I block has the highest arrears.”
The arrears, including wages in Chanchal-I block is about Rs 54 crore. Nearly Rs 11 crore is due in Bamangola, Chanchal-II has Rs 27 crore, English Bazar Rs 30 crore, Gazole Rs 24 crore, Habibpur Rs 23 crore, Harishchandrapur-I block has nearly Rs 13 crore and Harishchandrapur-II block has Rs 38 crore.
Kaliachak-I, II and III blocks have dues of Rs 32 crore, Rs 31 crore and Rs 19 crore respectively. Manikchak has Rs 14 crore, Old Malda Rs 13 crore, Ratua-I and II has Rs 15 crore and Rs 16 crore due respectively. Samiul Islam, a resident of Kaliachak III, a job card holder, said: “There are 7 members in my family.
Three of them worked for eight months in a row but still the Central government is not giving the money.”