Kerala: ‘Illegal’ hiring of migrant workers for MGNREGA works surface, social audit director to submit report to govt

Sources in the State Mission of the MGNREGS admitted that cases of illegal hiring are rampant in Kerala and added, “We have come across the trend and it is illegal. The delay in getting the funds for the materials from the Centre is also another reason behind the illegal activities. When there is delay in getting funds for materials, local bodies are giving the civil works to the contractors, who can normally afford delays in payments. These contractors are hiring migrant workers to execute the works.”

As per the norms, panchayat officials prepare estimates for the civil works, hire a vendor for the supply of construction materials and prepare a muster roll of the workers deployed — unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled. The vendors are then paid for the supplied materials and the workers given their wages depending on the number of days of work.

However, according to sources, officials and local panchayat members allegedly conspire and make contractors supply the raw materials as well as execute the works by hiring migrant workers. The illegality is allegedly covered up by transferring the wages to the accounts of the selected MGNREGS workers, from whom the money is then retrieved after the deduction of a commission.

Officials said the siphoning off of funds via this route has allegedly gained momentum since the last fiscal after Kerala decided to focus on creating durable assets instead of farm-based manual works. The Centre had earlier allowed all states to use 40 per cent of their annual MGNREGS budget allocation on materials and skilled labour to encourage works to build assets.

Till two years back, the state had spent only less than 15 per cent of the allocation for asset creation. However, in the current fiscal, the expenditure under materials would go up to 30 per cent, said officials, indicating how the system has opened a wide scope for misappropriation of funds.

In Kerala, a panchayat is allocated roughly Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore per year. Most of the panchayats in the state have recently undertaken construction of rural roads on a large scale.

Official sources said the contractors also use low quality materials to maximise profits. “There is no monitoring from the panchayat officials. We have come across instances of contractors making up to 30 per cent profit. The work envisaged in the estimate would be missing on the field in terms of both quality and quantity,” a source said.

The other alleged scope to illegally make money lies in the gap in wages paid to the semi-skilled and skilled workers — which is Rs 690 and Rs 930, respectively. Contractors do not pass on the full money to the workers.

Field officials of the Social Audit Unit said no action has been taken so far to curb the illegal practices as the racket allegedly involves local politicians, contractors and MGNREGA officials at the panchayats.