The
Sangai Express: Imphal: Sunday, February 10, 2013.
Members of
the Ucheckon Nongchup RTI Nupi Lup have become the first group who get
unemployment allowance under MGNREGS in the State.
In a press
conference held today at the office of Macha Leima, Palace Compound, Ucheckon Nongchup
RTI Nupi Lup member Konsam Bijaya said, under the guidelines of MGNREGS, there
is a provision of giving unemployment allowance to a job card holder if the
implementing agency fails to arrange work for the job card holder within 15
days of his/her application for work.
She said, in
November 2010, members of Ucheckon Nongchup RTI Lup went to the place of the
local Pradhan to submit an application seeking work under the Central
Government sponsored scheme.
However, the
Pradhan denied to receive the application informing the job card holders that
there was no work under the scheme at that time, Bijaya added.
She further
said that the job card holders then went to the Panchayat Secretary's office
and submitted the application.
As the job
card holders were not provided work within 15 days, 13 complainants lodged a
complaint at MGNREGS Ombudsman on January 15, 2011 .
After
perusing the complaint, the Ombudsman directed the authority concerned to give
unemployment allowance to the complainants, Bijaya said.
However, the
complainants had to petition the Court in August 2011 with legal assistance
from the Human Rights Law Network regarding the matter as the allowance was not
cleared in time.
Despite the
Court's decree, the authority concerned did not pay the amount to the
complainants, Bijaya said.
Peeved with
the lackadaisical attitude of the authority, the complainants again filed
another complaint at the Court in July 2012 .
Following the
complainant, the BDO told them that the allowance would be remitted to the
accounts of the job card holders opened at post office.
In August
2012, the complainants however found that the total allowance amount of the 13
complainants was remitted to a single account.
The matter
was again complained to the BDO seeking the officer to distribute the amount to
the account of the 13 complainants.
It was only
on January 26 this year that the complainants received the unemployment
allowance of Rs 1584 each in their respective accounts thereby becoming the
first instance of getting the allowance in the State.
Bijaya also
urged the job card holders of the State to demand their rights if the
implementing agency fails to provide work within 15 days of their application.