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A mockery of job guarantee scheme

KORAPUT: The much-hyped scheme (NREGA) to ensure guaranteed employment to people in rural areas is still a myth, at least for villagers of Tanginiguda of Dasamantpur panchayat under Boipariguda block in Koraput district.

Some 28 persons from Tanginiguda, Girliput and Kagalpada in the block left their villages on Wednesday last to cut bamboo from the forest areas of Naranpur in Rayagada district.

They were engaged by a contractor who supplies the wood to J.K. Paper Mills of Rayagada.

“If there is any work available near our villages, we would not have moved out in search of work,” said Mohan Burudi of Tanginiguda, who was among the contingent that left the village.

“Nothing has changed substantially for the rural poor in the last 10 years,” said Harischandra Khoda, a migrating labourer also from Tanginiguda.

Not that these people were not aware of the employment guarantee programme. They got themselves registered under the NREGA with the hope that they would be provided work. As there was no response from the administration to their application, most of them were forced to migrate to other places for work even if it was for lower wage, Mr. Harischandra Khoda added.

Leaving their villages and their families for months together in search of work was not new, said Surya Khilo of Mundaput.

The NREGA was a still a dream for most of them, he felt. “Its failure to reach the needy in the rural areas shattered their hopes,” he added.

A person called R.K. Hansa, claiming to be the forest organiser working under the contractor, visited the villages asking them to accompany him for work in the forests, said Raju Khilo of Mundaput.

These labourers would get work for one month on contract basis and would be paid Rs. 5.50 for cutting one bundle of bamboo, Mr. Hansa said.

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