STATE TIMES NEWS
DODA: Unpaid Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers of Kharangal Panchayat in Bhalessa Tehsil of District Doda have threatened mass migration from their native place if their dues are not paid at the earliest. They alleged the government was delaying the release of their wages since 2013.
Raising slogans against the government and Rural Development Department, they alleged that Block Development Officer (BDO) Gandoh had failed to provide work to dozens of enrolled workers from Kharangal Panchayat. Under the scheme, it is mandatory for the government to provide a minimum of 100 days of work.
Kharangal is one of the inaccessible panchayats of Doda district with no road link. Having a population of 2,136, it is considered one of the most backward area of Jammu and Kashmir State.
Mohd Sultan Magray, Chairman Panchayat Kharangal and a MGNREGA worker, alleged dozens of workers had done jobs at Kota Top, Dalmira, Magray Mohalla, Mangotra Mohalla, Kilru, Gosow in Kharangal Panchayat of Tehsil Bhalessa and nearby villages of Draman and Wani Pura in Tanta Panchayat of Tehsil Kahara in the year 2013 for 90 to 120 days, but the RDD had not yet paid them a single penny.
“We are poor labourers, mostly dependent on daily wages but RDD has pushed us to the verge of begging as we have been waiting for our dues since 2013 after completing lane and drain work from motorable road to lower high school Kharangal,” said Naib Sarpanch Bashir Ahmed adding that if our dues are not paid soon, we will have no other option but to start mass migration from here.
The villagers of Kota Top further alleged that they have been facing discrimination at the hands of both Panchayat and Rural Development Department since last three years none of the MGNREGA worker has been given any work despite possessing job cards.
“My husband is seriously ill and bed ridden for the last 15 years , I am the mother of three school going kids and to earn our livelihood I have to force them to do odd jobs. I do have a job card but for the last three years I didn’t get neither a penny nor a single day’s work from RDD,” said Haleema Begum of village Kota Top.
When contacted BDO Gandoh Pervaiz Naik said that as of now we have cleared 80 per cent of the pending liabilities, in Kharangal Panchayat there are some technical issues because GRS posted there left the job with incomplete files. We have almost sorted it out barring few files.”
BDO Gandoh added that At “Kota Top, I have recently made payments for two works but some job card holders have carried out works without prior approval and information of the department for which we are not bound to pay them”.
