CEFS social audit finds tribals hardpressed for work in Kalahandi

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New Delhi, Jun 10: There are no smiles on the faces of the poverty-stricken tribals of the infamous KBK hunger belt of Orissa. The government’s ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, being implement in the region, has turned out to be a mockery, largely benefiting the implementing authorities at the expense of poor tribals, according to a survey by Centre for Enviournment and Food Security (CEFS), conducted under the Union government’s social audit programme.

The erstwhile Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) has been divided into six districts, namely Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabrangpur and Rayagada. As the region was known for starvation deaths, it was declared as the region for special attention.

According to the survey, there are irregularities in entries in job cards, maintenance of muster rolls and disbursement of payments to the intended beneficiaries. CEFS conducted a survey of 100 villages in the six districts in the last two months.

Among the major findings of the CEFS report social audit has not been conducted in any of the 100 villages and the muster rolls have not been checked by the village people. In none of the villages under survey 100-day employment was given. No job cards are issued in 11 villages, no work was undertaken in 37 villages after issuance of job cards and after 16 months of the launch of the scheme. Job cards issued in 23 villages are not given to the workers, they are still in the custody of panchayat executive officers (PEOs) and junior officers.

In 25 villages under survey partial payments have been made to workers and in three village no payments have been made even after 4 to 8 months of work. In 6 villages in Kashipur block in Rayagada district work is being undertaken without issuance any job cards

“Our findings reveal a nexus between a chain of officials, from state to village levels, responsible for implementation of the scheme. Benefits are not reaching the beneficiaries," CEFS director, Parashuram Ray told FE.He said the BDO of Nandur block in Koraput district, Jyoti Rajan Mishra had instructed the PEOs not to show any muster rolls to the visiting CEFS team.