Mokhada villagers stage protest: Hundreds go without EGS pay, muster rolls show dues credited

On Tuesday, about 100 protesting villagers from Karol-Wavlechiwadi, Poshera-Palaspada, Kurlod, Aadoshi and Kundachapada gathered at the office of Mokhada Tehsildar Jairaj Suryavanshi, and refused to budge until their payments were disbursed. Some are awaiting payment for one “muster” or one six-day work week, others for two or three, their dues ranging between Rs 1,096 to approximately Rs 3,000.

[related-post]

As a verification of their names began, it emerged that in many of the cases, the payment had been duly sanctioned by the tehsildar’s office and Fund Transfer Order codes generated, with the payments credited to the labourers’ postal savings accounts. “When the money is credited to the post office, the system-generated muster roll says the payment is credited, with the date of payment also mentioned. But several weeks later, the sub-post office has not yet handed over money to the postman for disbursal,” admitted an official in the tehsildar’s office.

Only last week, a report compiled by various social organisations under the Jagnayacha Hakkacha Aandolan pointed out that though the rural employment guarantee scheme is a key facet of the state’s drought-mitigation measures, district after district had suffered from various deficiencies in its implementation, ranging from non-availability of work to delayed payments.

“In times such as these when cultivation yields next to nothing amid the severe water scarcity, the rozgar hami (employment guarantee) programme is our only source of livelihood,” said Yamuna Parshuram Hilim, 38, of Palaspada village. With three school-going children and no land of their own, Yamuna and her husband till forest land and work as farm labour during the agricultural season. “We worked for three weeks in February,” she said. “My husband got paid the entire sum, my name is not there on the list.” Ranjana Ramdas Shid, Sonika Somi Shid, Jijau Waman Shid and several other women of Palaspada village had the same complaint — their husbands had been paid in full or in part while their payments remain pending.

The Palaspada residents’ complaint was unique — Of the 130-odd residents of the village who were given three weeks of work in January-February, nearly 60 remain unpaid with about 10 to 15 of them having been paid absolutely nothing.

Brian Lobo of the Kashtkari Sanghatna leading the protest said the fact that the muster rolls reported that the money had been despatched online, “credited” to accounts but not given to beneficiaries should be considered akin to cheating. “We’re not even complaining about the routine delays beyond the 15-day stipulation as per law — but how can those who have worked not be paid for months?” he asked.

Tehsildar Jairaj Suryavanshi told The Indian Express that an exhaustive cross-verification of the names submitted by the villages would be conducted and the delay taken up with the postal department,

Activists and villagers said the 500 names appended to Tuesday’s application to the tehsil office was only the tip of the iceberg regarding problems with the implementation of MGNREGA. “We are from just four or five villages — there are literally thousands of people who haven’t been paid,” said Shravan Sanakre, one of the protestors.

Even as the agitation continued in the tehsil office, somebody sent a little note to the tehsildar, on behalf of 71-year-old Damu Laxman Thombre of Mohpada-Adoshi village. For months, Thombre has been visiting the postman in his village to ask for his payment for three musters — he cannot remember which month he and wife Anasuya were given work, their only income source for several months. “All I know was that it was in 2014-15, it was for last year, not this year,” he said.