Calcutta Telegraph;Wednesday , November 17 , 2010
Shillong, Nov. 16: A few elders, including the headman, of Ksehrynshang village in Jaintia hills were today accused of misusing funds meant for several development schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Indira Awas Yojana and others.
Addressing a press conference here, Malbi Timung, resident of Ksehrynshang village in Nartiang, under Thadlaskein community and rural development block, alleged that Leaderson Papiah, Ksehrynshang village headman, had misused his authority to misappropriate funds from different development schemes, including the flagship NREGS. The NREGS schemes include construction of fish-breeding ponds, wells, roads and afforestation.
Timung said, “From the findings of the Right To Information (RTI) Act, Leaderson, also the secretary of the area employment council of Moobakhon circle, along with Kamwakwah Papiah, secretary of the village employment council of Ksehrynshang, H. Shadap, chairman of the village employment council of Ksehrynshang, K. Shylla, secretary of the village employment council of Kremlabit, and B. Pale, chairman of the village employment council of Kremlabit manipulated the NREGS funds for their personal gratification.”
They also discovered that the “Ksehrynshang and Kremlabit village employment councils manipulated the number of working days of job cardholders,” Timung said.
“According to the roll register, job cardholders attended work even on Sundays,” Timung said, adding that several job cardholders were yet to receive payment.
He also said in Ksehrynshang, several names of people from outside the village appeared in the register.
Timung said there was severe manipulation in the list of suppliers of items like wood, sand, and stones. “Actually, in Ksehrynshang, timber is felled from the community forest and never purchased,” he said.
Timung said in 2008-09, the amount sanctioned for Kremlabit was Rs 4,64,000 while Ksehrynshang received a total of Rs 8,71,660 in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
Moreover, Timung alleged that a gram sevak from the block development office had come twice to the village to find a solution to the outcry raised by the people against the alleged misappropriation. “The gram sevak, however, asked people to forget about the matter,” he said.
He also said the social organisation of the Salesian order, Bosco Reach Out, which was supposed to conduct the social audit of the NREGS, had never visited the village since the flagship programme commenced.
Timung said a first information report had been filed at Nartiang police outpost on October 4, and on October 12, the police had come to the village for an investigation.
“However, we have not heard anything since then. Even the deputy commissioner of Jaintia Hills, T. Dkhar, has not said anything about the matter though we had complained to him too,” he said.
Timung also said a plea under the RTI Act found Leaderson and Kamwakwah guilty of misappropriating funds of the Indira Awas Yojana scheme, meant for two beneficiaries.
“Every household should receive Rs 38,500 from this scheme. When we were about to file an FIR, Leaderson and Kamwakwah tried to refund the money to the two beneficiaries, but till date, the full amount has not been received by them,” he said.
It was also alleged that Leaderson, also the secretary of the village-level water and sanitation scheme, had not been able to complete the Swajaldhara-Ksehrynshang water supply project, sanctioned since 2002. Kamwakwah, secretary of the village education committee of Ksehrynshang Upper Primary School, was alleged to have misappropriated money in the construction of a new building of the school.
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