Morung Express News
Kiphire | May 20
Congress today held a silent protest rally in Kiphire against non-release of 100 days MGNREGA fund by the State government and submitted a memorandum to the Governor through the Deputy Commissioner.
Addressing the party people, SK James, PCC member questioned the State government where the money meant for public has gone. “Each person should get Rs. 15,000 year, but we are not getting what is due to us and the State government is misusing all the money that is meant for us,” he alleged.
Another PCC member Throgathe disclosed that there are 4,15,000 job card holders in Nagaland and the State is supposed to get Rs. 643.5 crores. However, so far the State is getting only Rs. 199.47 crores, he said and asked the government where all the money has gone. He also alleged that VDB secretaries and chairmen in all the villages are forced to sign blank cheque making the government to withdraw the amount without their knowledge.
Meanwhile, Thritsali, Kiphire District Congress Committee President accused that the present government, instead of giving importance to issues is more into corruption. He further asked the people to come together to fight for the right of the poor.
Later, the party members marched to the DC's office to submit a memorandum addressed to the Governor of Nagaland.
DCC Peren demands Inquiry Commission
Peren, May 20 (MExN): District Congress Committee (DCC) Peren today organized a dharna in Peren to demand proper implementation of MGNREGA. It then submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner demanding that an impartial Inquiry Commission headed by a retired High Court Judge be constituted within a month's time from the date of submission of the memorandum to investigate and take appropriate action to implement the Act effectively.
The memo appended by Aluibe Iheilung, DCC Peren President noted that MGNREGA was passed in 2005 with an aim to provide at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every rural household in India whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
The memo stated there is a “drought-like situation” due to lack of money circulation in the rural areas across the state. In this backdrop, the DCC Peren submitted a representation to the DC Peren on February 2, 2016 demanding 100 days' wages be realized to each entitled household. However, it lamented, there has been no reply to the representation till date.
It further alleged that the State Government has misused, mismanaged and misinterpreted the Act and rules by way of “refusing to give Job Cards to the employees, pressurizing VDB Secretaries and VCCs to sign blank cheques, avoiding to conduct social audit, misinterpreting the meaning of convergence by diverting 50% of the MGNREGA money as VIP discretion, not implementing 100 days employment wages as guaranteed in the Act.”
