Machines replace men in NREGS Work

KORAPUT: Even as irregularities in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) have been making headlines, a discrepancy in the scheme was reported from Dumuriput village under Padampur panchayat in Koraput block. Vehicles have been put to use and only a minimum number of job card-holders engaged in the construction work of approach road to the village from the old national highway. The work started a few weeks back at an estimated cost of Rs 3 lakh. Though the site is just about 12 km from the district headquarters, the irregularity, it is alleged, has gone unnoticed by the higher authorities.  Only about 15 card-holders have been engaged at the site while over 80 other job card-holders await work. Villagers were kept in the dark because this was the first MGNREGS work in the village, a former Naib Sarpanch Subodh Chetty said. Moreover, tractor and excavator are being used to transport the soil from a distance of even 20 metres while the rules under the scheme state the vehicles can’t be used for a distance of less than a kilometre. Koraput BDO Narayan Murmu admitted to the use of tractor at the site. The locals have urged the district collector to inquire into the matter.