Job scheme off Duare Sarkar next leg Hint of further delay in MGNREGA’s resumption

WB Govt not to include the 100-day job scheme in the fifth edition of Duare Sarkar

A Duare Sarkar camp  in Calcutta. : File photo

Pranesh Sarkar   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |   01.10.22  :  The Mamata Banerjee government has decided not to include the 100-day job scheme in the fifth edition of Duare Sarkar (government on doorsteps) programme, which will be held between November 1 and 30, amid murmurs in the administration that Nabanna is not hopeful of getting funds from the Centre under the MGNREGA anytime soon.

“Usually, a separate counter for the 100-day job scheme is opened at Duare Sarkar camps to ensure that people get job cards or get other problems related to the MGNREGA resolved. This time, only one scheme of the panchayat department, related to self-help groups, has been included in the camps,” said a senior government official.

The MGNREGA used to be implemented by the panchayat department. The decision of the government, officials said, is significant as this could be the last edition of the Duare Sarkar camps before next year’s panchayat polls. The government is apparently planning to hold the rural polls in February next year.

“The Duare Sarkar camps worked as an important tool to redress the grievances of rural people before the 2021 Assembly polls,” said a source, referring to how the Trinamul Congress had dealt with the anti-incumbent mood felt earlier during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

 “But the cause of concern is that the state government would not be able to help rural people ahead of the panchayat polls... It is a fact that a large section of the rural population in Bengal depends heavily on the 100-day job scheme to earn their livelihoods. As the state is not planning to open any help-desk on the job scheme in the camps this time, it sends a message that the MGNREGA is unlikely to start soon,” added the source.

The 100-day rural job scheme had come to a grinding halt in Bengal in April after the Centre had suspended the release of funds under the MGNREGA alleging gross misappropriation of money over the past few years. The Centre had set a series of conditions to secure funds under the scheme.

“The Centre had asked the state to recover misappropriated funds from the persons responsible, mainly panchayat functionaries, and deposit the amounts in a designated bank account. The state recently started recovering some funds from panchayat functionaries. But it seems the effort is too little to satisfy the Union rural development ministry,” said another source.

The government increased the number of services to be offered at the camps from 12 to 24 to make the programme more attractive.

The absence of the 100-day job scheme-related services at the Duare Sarkar camps is likely to be a cause of concern for the ruling party ahead of the rural polls. 

“Trinamul has to face uncomfortable questions during the ruling polls as more than 90 per cent of gram panchayats are run by the party. Opposition parties have already started campaigning that the funds are not released by the Centre because of financial irregularities by Trinamul leaders,” said another official.

The panchayat department has recently initiated a series of measures to prevent corruption at the grassroots level. The efforts include the introduction of a grievance register system

.“These efforts might make things straight in future. But they seem to be too late to secure funds before the rural polls,” said a bureaucrat. The government increased the number of services to be offered at the camps from 12 to 24 to make the programme more attractive and to increase the footfall.