Hiral Dave: Tue Nov 16 2010,
Kutiyana, Porbandar : If affluent NRIs, doctors, government officials and teachers turned out to be NREGS job card holders in Kotda village, the story is no different in nearby Katvana village. The village has only 338 registered voters, but the number of job cards issued is 1145 and the beneficiaries include some long dead, family members who had two separate job cards made in their names, government officials and some who never even stayed in this village.
Villagers are candid that not all are unemployed or otherwise eligible to be NREGS beneficiaries. Aslam Khokhar, the e-literate paanwala of Kotda, who chanced upon the NREGS job list discrepancies, found that not only Kotda, but Katvana village too abounds with fictitious beneficiaries.
Going by NREGS records, more than Rs 1.2 crore worth employment projects including road construction and lake deepening were undertaken in Katvana village between March 2009 to March 2010.
The administration, jolted by the Kotda scam, has now been alerted about similar siphoning of NREGS funds from this village too. “There were some complaints. The preliminary inquiry indicates that job cards may have been duplicated,” admitted Laxman Shiyal, Katvana taluka extension officer.
G Gamit, who has recently taken over as the TDO, was succinct. “There will be an inquiry into the matter,” he said.
Aslam Khokhar, a Katvana village resident who exposed the scam at Kodta village which led to a police complaint, says of the scam brewing in Katvana: “Our survey found large-scale duplication. This is why the number of job cards issued there is at least three times the total number of voters.”
The Kutiyana TDO has his hands full, trying to figure out how job cards were either duplicated or got made in fictitious names.
Ramesh Pitha Solanki , a teacher in Katvana villager who died no less than two years ago, is the holder of a current job card, numbered GJ-21-005-026-001-195. Another deceased in the neighbourhood holds job card number GJ-21-005-026-001-171 despite dying years ago.
A third, Karshan Solanki, is a paralytic who cannot even walk, not to mention wielding pickaxes and building roads, but has a job card in his name numbered GJ-21-005-026-001-197.
Mohan Solanki and Meena Kothia, both mid-day meal scheme employees, found to their surprise that job cards were issued in their names as well.
Devshi Khima Chavda has 10 family members but has no less than 20 job cards issued in his family members’ names. To be fair, his was not the only family to do so. Kana Leela Dhokia, with six family members, has found to his consternation that 12 job cards have been issued in his family’s name.
Dhana Naran Nandaniya, with job card number GJ-21-005-026-001-137, is an employee with Pashchim Gujarat Vij Company Limited, while Natha Ala Solanki is a teacher in Surendranagar. And the list goes on.
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