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Large-scale exodus of Melghat tribals for jobs-Vaibhav Ganjapure

Ritesh Gautam is a resident of a backward area in Pohara village in Dharni tehsil in Melghat. He migrated to Madhya Pradesh in search of work. Manohar Bode from Seamdoh village went to Solapur for the same reason. Both are back home to celebrate Holi, the biggest festival of tribals.

Like Gautam and Bode, there are many youth from the region who left home in search of jobs. They are victims of government apathy.

Melghat has always been in the news for all the wrong reasons like child deaths due to malnutrition but of late, large-scale exodus of tribals has set alarm bells ringing in the state government's administration department. NGOs working in the region are livid.

Despite the government claiming implementation of the Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MREGS), the exodus of youth continues unabated. Villagers who have come down to celebrate Holi, have complained of not getting wages under the MREGS scheme since three months.

Melghat comprises of nearly 350 villages and has a population of 1.5 lakh with most residents being illiterate. The region remains underdeveloped and the government is not doing anything, say residents.

"We make many rounds of post-offices but officials ignore us citing administrative difficulties. Some of us even sleep outside the post-office in the hope of getting our money," says a tribal.

Another tribal said that adjoining areas like parts of Madhya Pradesh are providing job opportunities. "Some of us explored places like Solapur and Konkan. Private contractors pay us in advance unlike the government," he says.

Suvarna Bonde (48) rues the fact that the government pays just Rs 125 under the MREGS which is too meagre to feed her family. Suvarna and her husband both work in Betul, MP as construction workers. "Outside our region, we get a minimum of Rs 200 for construction work. Moreover, we're in much more demand outside," she says.

The couple was a part of a large delegation which came to meet state employment guarantee scheme minister Nitin Raut. In their complaint, tribals told Raut that they are yet to get their dues since many months.

"Their condition is extremely pitiable. Local officials often mislead the government regarding the number of persons employed under MREGS. Of the 1.5 lakh population, only 10-15% gets the benefit of EGS," says Poornima Upadhyay, who is working for NGO Khoj.

"Under MREGS, a labourer gets Rs 125 per day for about 100 days in a year, but the district administration has failed to pay their wages since months. How will they survive with this meagre amount? They have every right to migrate to feed their families," she adds.

Even Melghat MLA D Patil backed the tribals for blaming the postal department for non-payment of their dues. "The money is distributed through post offices. But the officials keep it pending for months, perhaps deliberately," he says.

State principal secretary for EGS V Giriraj admitted that large-scale migration has taken place but refused to blame the government. "There was a delay in payment due to some difficulties, but that is surely no reason for them to move to other places for work. Anyone can go to another place for better job prospects. The MP border is just 40 kms from here," he says.

Statistics of the last two years have revealed that the number of tribals availing of the scheme has dropped by 4,000 due to the negligent attitude of the government. In 2010-11, about 11,680 from Chikhaldara and 6,227 from Dharni claimed the benefit of EGS while in 2011-12, 8,500 from Chikhaldara and 4,500 from Dharni got work under EGS.