Minister flags fake job card issue in state Assembly
State Parliamentary Affairs minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay on Wednesday flagged off the issue of non-payment of wages for 100 days work in Bengal inspite of having fewer fake job cards in comparison to Uttar Pradesh which is leading the number of fake job card holders in the country.
“In the year 2022-23, over 2,96464 lakh fake MGNREGS job cards have been deleted in Uttar Pradesh, whereas in Bengal this number is only 5263. However, Bengal has been deprived of wages of 100 days workers, but UP and other states have got their share. Now, the Central team is coming again to Bengal for enquiry. This inhumane attitude on the part of the Centre should be brought to everybody’s attention,” Chattopadhyay said during ‘Mention’ at the state Assembly.
In response to a question from Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Dipak Adhikari (Dev), in the Parliament on Tuesday, Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan‘s written response indicated that since 2021, a total of 10,50,401 fake MGNREGS job cards had been deleted in India.
Out of this, a staggering 3,64,401 were from Uttar Pradesh and 1,23,068 from Madhya Pradesh. Contrast this with Bengal’s minuscule figure of 5,651 deleted job cards.
“Their data substantiates how Bengal is being singled out and its people deprived of their rightful entitlements while @BJP4India-ruled states continue to receive their funds unhindered,” a post in All India Trinamool Congress’ X handle read.
It is learnt that the state Panchayats and Rural Development department was informed on November 15, regarding the visit of a Centre’s team for monitoring projects of NLM (National Livelihood Mission) in Bengal.
The communication from the Centre further stated
that there will be 7 teams
which will be travelling to
different districts and submitting their report by December 15.
An official in the P&RD department said that the Central team had visited the state in March-April and had hardly found any irregularities. To date, 69 central teams have come to the state to oversee NLM projects.
“They (Centre) remained silent for more than six months and now after we launched a protest movement in Delhi in October along with MGNREGA workers and demanded payment of wages, they are again sending Central teams. This is simply eyewash and dragging on things,” a senior TMC leader said.
