ACAUT for DBT under MGNREGA

DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 20 (MExN): The Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) Nagaland today said that the objection of the Nagaland State VDB Association (NSVDBA) to the State Government’s plan to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under MGNREGA beginning 2017 is a “most insidious reaction.”  

A press note from the ACAUT said that the VDB Association’s claim that by suddenly implementing DBT the very purpose of MGNREGA will be defeated is “utter nonsense.”  

“The people of Nagaland are all too familiar with the nefarious intention of the association in objecting to the DBT and how the purpose of this noble program has turned out to be anything but noble is known to all,” it pointed out.

  ACAUT added that the present system of implementing MGNREGA programme by the Nagaland state VDBs “works much better for the corrupt Rural Development Department (RD) and the VDBs since there’s much to loot under the present system of unaccountability.”  

On the Association’s claim that by introducing DBT at this stage the poor rural job holders will be victimized, the ACAUT Nagaland differed, by stating that the “only victims of DBT would be the RD officials and the VDBs.”  

It claimed that the reaction of the NSVDBA “has only exposed their sinister design and is most shameful.” The NSVDBA asking other NGO’s and organization not to meddle in the affairs of the VDBs has only unmasked their garb of pretending to be working for the welfare of the people, it added.  

The ACAUT urged the Government of Nagaland to do the right thing for the poor and helpless rural folk of Nagaland especially by undertaking immediate measures to facilitate job card holders to easily open their bank accounts and ensuring that it is linked with Aadhaar. It asked that the government live up to its rhetoric of working for the good of the people.  

Meanwhile, the ACAUT asked the NSVDBA to explain how the amount of Rs. 1500 Cr plus released for MNREGA 2016-17 was utilized “since the Finance Department has been unable to explain the suspected double withdrawals.”