Workers of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in West Bengal who have been not paid their wages since December 2021 have filed police complaint against programme officers of MGNREGS.
The complaint was filed across four districts on Thursday under Sections 417 (cheating) and 418 (cheating despite knowing the loss) of the Indian Penal Code against the officers. In some cases, the workers who are affiliated with Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) filed a complaint against senior officers of the State and Union government.
For instance, a complaint has been filed against Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, at Madhyamgram police station in North 24 Parganas district. Complaints were filed in various police stations of Purulia, Nadia, West Medinipur and North 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal.
On Friday, the workers who are demanding wages also held road blockades in districts like Paschim Medinipur and Bankura.
“This situation has arisen today as a result of utter non-cooperation between the State and the Central government towards the workers. Due to the immense corruption of the State government in 100 days’ work, the Central government has withheld the wages of the workers and the common workers are suffering,” a press statement of PBKMS said.
The Samity which has been raising the plight of MGNREGS workers added that the workers were spending their days waiting for their wages for more than nine months.
Last time when the workers were paid was in December 2021. The 100-day work programme in the State has come to a complete halt because of non-payment of wages to workers
As per the direction of the Centre, which is insisting that FIRs should be lodged against officers engaged in corruption, the State government has filed FIRs at various places against panchayat functionaries. The State is also trying to recover the money in case of corruption in the work under MGNREGS.
However, this is the first instance where the workers are insisting on legal action for non-payment of work.
In response to another question in the Rajya Sabha on July 20, the Ministry of Rural Development pointed that Centre has ₹3,989.58 crore pending liabilities for wage component under MGNREGS while it owes ₹2,605.82 crore (about 65 %of entire liabilities) alone to West Bengal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written several letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and personally taken up the issue in a meeting in the first week of August this year
