Kerala - Kalpetta   

19 panchayat chiefs in Wayanad to stage sit-in

KALPETTA: The presidents of the grama panchayats ruled by the Left Democratic Front in Wayanad district will, on Monday, stage a sit-in in front of the office of the Joint Programme Coordinator of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) here in protest against the alleged delay by the Union government in allotting funds to carry out the scheme in the district.

A.N. Prabhakaran, president, Vellamunda panchayat, who heads the Grama Panchayat Presidents’ Association, said at a press conference at Mananthavady on Saturday that the presidents of 19 panchayats would take part in the protest.

Mr. Prabhakaran said the Union government had not allotted any fund to the panchayats under the project for the past three months. The 25 panchayats in the district required Rs.13 crore to pay the workers employed under the scheme. Moreover, Rs.37 crore was needed to complete the ongoing works.

Mr. Prabhakaran said the wages should be paid within 15 days after the work. When the workers in the district started an agitation for wages in December, the State government provided Rs.2.5 crore from an emergency fund to pay the arrears.

He said that while the panchayats were trying to provide at least 80 workdays to each worker, the funds crunch had come in the way. During the last financial year, most panchayats in the district had provided an average 43 workdays to each worker.

He said this was the time to start the NREGS works by using the 40 per cent material cost of the fund utilised in the current financial year.

Mr. Prabhakaran alleged political intervention behind the delay in allotting funds to torpedo the successes achieved by the State government in implementing the scheme. Though M.I. Shanavas, Wayanad MP, was a member of the National Employment Guarantee Council, he did not make any attempt to intervene in the issue.

K.M. Varkey and Justin Baby, presidents of Mananthavady and Edavaka grama panchayats, respectively, were present.

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