A probe ordered by the Ranchi Deputy Commissioner following suicide by a 48-year-old landless Adivasi worker last Sunday shows that he along with other labourers were not paid their dues under the NREG Scheme. Following the report, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner has suspended a Panchayat Sevak. However, the CPI (M) — which had staged dharna and blocked traffic in Bundu in the wake of the labourer killing himself — has alleged that the district administration is trying to hush up the case. The party cadres, led by Bahadur Oraon, have called for a bandh in Bundu on Tuesday and would ‘gherao’ the state Assembly on February 27.Faced with abject poverty and being unable to feed his four children, Turia Munda, a resident of Gitildih village, had hanged himself last Sunday. Employed under the NREG scheme, Munda had not been paid his wages for over a month. As per the NREG guidelines, every worker engaged by the state Government should be paid on a weekly-basis. However, none of the 30 workers hired to dig a pond – undertaken by BDO’s office at Bundu in Ranchi district — had been paid his full wages. Last Monday, BDO Lalan Kumar visited Munda’s hut to give a cheque of Rs 12,500, 10 litre kerosene and 50 kg of rice as compensation to his dependents, and Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Avinash Kumar ordered SDO Chitranjan Kumar to inquire into the causes of his suicide.In his report, Chitranjan Kumar said the project was worth Rs 2.53 lakh and the pond was yet to be dug up. The BDO’s office had constituted a committee and had asked the workers to work under the supervision of Panchayat Sevak Dhirndra Singh. Phani Bhushan Munda headed the committee. The SDO further noted that Singh, who is the junior-most staff at the BDO’s office, had signed a file releasing the wages of the workers and Phani Bhushan Munda had drawn Rs 1.17 lakh for their wages. However, none of the workers got their full wages. Following the SDO’s report, Ranchi DC suspended Singh. BDO Lalan Kumar too, filed an FIR at Bundu police station on February 7 saying, “Although the remittance was made, secretary of the committee had withheld the wages of over two dozen workers.”However, Oraon said, “The DC, SDO and the BDO were responsible for the execution of the NREG scheme. By implicating Panchayat Sevak and secretary of the committee, they have tried to hush up the case. We demand an inquiry into the case.”
