Brings to light a long held open secret
Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 7
The Rural Development (RD) Department, Nagaland, is in for some serious explanation in relation to the Government of India’s celebrated rural employment guarantee programme sold as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MGNREGS).
A village council in Dimapur district has accused the department, known popularly as the RD, of deducting substantial percentages, or cuts, from both the wage and material components of the MGNREGS funds allocated for village development projects. The allegation, though not surprising, brought to fore an alleged practice long regarded in Nagaland as an open secret.
The allegation was made by the Kacharigaon-Phevima Village Council (KPVC) and its Village Development Board (VDB) at a press conference on June 7. “A day’s wage is Rs 234 per person per day (as mandated by the scheme). Out of that, the department is demanding 30 percent. We can't allow that,” held KPVC Chairperson, Vitho Zao.
The village has decided not to oblige to the demand set by the RD for reverting 30 percent of the funds from the “wages component” and 50 percent from the “material component” allocated to the VDB starting with the 2024-25 fiscal.
According to him, it has become customary for the RD department to deduct percentages from the MGNREGS funds, a practice which has continued with impunity for years. He added that the department ensures it leaves no paper or digital trail of the alleged monetary deductions by accepting only deposits made in cash. “They do not issue receipts,” he said.
The transaction process is simple. The VDBs encash the amount sanctioned to them. A certain percentage, either 30 or 50 percent, depending on the work component, is then set aside as the department’s share or cut. The deducted amount in cash is deposited or handed over in person by the VDB to the department or any of the department employee assigned for the purpose. This process ensures there is no evidence or records of the transaction.
In the case of the VDB, Kacharigaon-Phevima, he said that it was left with no choice but to accede to the demands of the department as protestations implied arbitrary stoppage of MGNREGS funding to the village. This, he said, was as good as blackmail.
However, he said that the village decided to stop the corrupt practice starting with the 2024-25 fiscal. The council formally wrote to the department, on June 3, regarding its decision stop the deductions.
Citing the village’s audit report, he said that Rs 6,78,255 was allegedly reverted from the material component in 2023-24. “Now the villagers are blaming the VDB," Zao said.
He held that the RD department taking cuts from MGNREGS funds was not confined to his village. “It prevails all over Nagaland," Zao claimed.
“I appeal on behalf of the villagers, how long can we be blackmailed. If we don't accede to their demand, they threaten us with stopping funding to the village," Zao alleged, while adding that all the villages in Nagaland should come together fight to rid the corruption the RD department.
The VDB Secretary, Kevishel Viswentso held that out of the 1285 villages in Nagaland, not one village has voiced out except Kacharigaon-Phevima. This village now falls under the West Dimapur RD Block, having previously been under the Chümoukedima Block. The village has a registered household count of around 400 and approximately 140 job cards, out of a population exceeding 2000.
Jal Shakti
The Kacharigaon-Phevima village council was further queried on the status of the Jal Shakti Mission in the village. The village council chairperson replied that water pipes intended for the scheme are currently lying unused at the village council hall. The preliminary civil works for bringing tapped water to households was reportedly complete but awaiting payment.
