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Sarpanches, panches to be involved in Bani tehsil by Dinesh Manhotra


As the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has failed to effectively take off in the backward Bani tehsil of Kathua district, the authorities have decided to involve newly-elected sarpanches and panches to make the poverty-alleviation scheme functional in the area.

Earlier officials of the Rural Development Department (RDD) implemented the scheme, which evoked a poor response, as the residents of the Bani area preferred to work as labourers with private contractors in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh due to the indifferent attitude of the officials concerned.

Though senior RDD officials refused to speak about the failure of the scheme in the belt, sources said after facing criticism from different quarters they (officials) decided to rope in the sarpanches and the panches to involve people in the development activities and make the rural job scheme effective in the region. “The panchayat members are also exerting pressure on the officials concerned not to approve or sanction any work without their consent,” they said.

“The authorities are now involving us in the implementation of the rural employment scheme in our respective areas,” Sunil Kumar, newly-elected sarpanch of the Gitti panchayat of Bani tehsil, told The Tribune over the phone. He said earlier the RDD officials were formulating the policies and implementing the scheme in the area. He alleged that it was all due to the indifferent attitude of the officials concerned that the scheme was not properly implemented there.

The sources said the higher RDD officials had also taken notice of the failure of the job scheme in the Bani area. “Officials concerned have been directed to properly implement the scheme,” they said. “Without involving the panchayat members, the scheme cannot be properly implemented in our area,” Master Lal Chand, MLA, Bani, told The Tribune. He admitted that the scheme had failed to take off in Bani. Listing reasons for the scheme’s failure, Lal Chand said it was not implemented in the area as per the set guidelines. “Just for the official record, job cards have been issued to the people but adequate funds have not been allocated to give employment to the card holders,” he said. He added that the scheme failed to take off in Kathua district in general and Bani tehsil in particular.

To authenticate in his charges, the MLA said in the neighbouring Doda district Rs 55 crore was spent under the scheme, but only Rs 9 crore was spent in Kathua district last year.

The Tribune in its July 16 edition had reported that the residents of Bani tehsil preferred to go to Himachal Pradesh to earn their livelhood as the rural job scheme failed to attract them.

z Earlier, officials of the Rural Development Department implemented the scheme

z After facing criticism from different quarters they (officials) decided to rope in the sarpanches and the panches to involve people in the development activities and make the rural job scheme effective

z Residents of the Bani area preferred to work as labourers with private contractors in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh due to the indifferent attitude of the officials concerned.