MGNREGA benefits go to the dead in Thane as deceased tribals reap benefits of welfare schemes

The registration of an FIR by Thane rural police has blown the lid off a major scam in the development works taken up by farmers on their own fields such as digging of wells under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Vikramgad tehsil.

After dna exposed how the elderly left to fend for themselves are dying of hunger on September 23, many are linking scams like these in the schemes meant for tribals for the desperate situation.

“I’ve heard of many kinds of thefts but here over 15 wells have been stolen. Anyone who finds them should contact the Block Development Officer according to whom the dead are coming back to seek benefits of wells and wages,” Krishna Kakdya Bij a Warli tribal from Kasa Budruk who braved threats to register the FIR a copy of which is with dna. “The current sarpanch Vimal Wagh’s husband Sanjay has threatened me and I fear for my life,” said a scared Bij. He was alerted of the fraud when Pandu Babu Thakre from the neighbouring village of Kegwa filed an RTI.

His father Kakdya Dharma Bij died four years ago yet a sum of Rs 1,34,058 has been released in his name for the construction of a non-existent well. Documents available with DNA show that payments under the MGNREGA began with a disbursement of Rs 86,000 on March 31, 2012 and were done in six stages. The last instalment - a sum of Rs 11,613 –was done on August 8, 2013. DNA also found another case of a deceased Janya Shinwar Satvi too being shown identically as a beneficiary of the scheme.

While the scheme was supposed to improve irrigation using the farmers’ own labour, the six pits being passed off as wells were dug with an earth excavator and bogus work musters created. For example one muster shows how Paravan Narayan Kadu was paid labour for working on a well a whole two years after she died. Kadu seems to work very hard posthumously as she shows up in another muster too in 2012. A physically handicapped Rama Shirad Gond who has trouble moving around too shows up on two musters as a labourer.

Furthermore information on the official website shows expenses on the wells as being far in excess of the estimate and sanction. For example in the case of Krishna Wagh the cost estimated was Rs 1.91 lakh but actually a sum of Rs 2.78 was disbursed for what cannot pass of an apology for a ditch too.

DNA found in the case of one Govind Laxman Mane, five musters were created and sums of Rs 85, 500 were given for labour and another Rs 71,500 for skilled labour. Here blasting is claimed to have been done but the stone is not even exposed.

Moreover despite the district administration website’s claims of 22 sandbag bunds having been built at the cost of Rs 19.58 lakhs in the area, dna found only one.

As if this weren’t enough panchyat samiti officials have made off with lakhs disbursed for creating sapling nurseries for forestry cheating both the government and hapless tribals in the process. Krishna Gavli and Budhya Sathe were promised that they will be paid at the rate of Rs 7.81 per sapling and laboured with others in the village to create 25,000 saplings. “Apart from plastic bags and some seeds we were given nothing. We were told to invest on our own and that we’d get repaid,” remembers Gavli who sold his family rice stock for three years and borrowed from others. He has only got Rs 30,348 of the Rs 1,17,150 he was supposed to while Budhya has got only Rs20,500 of the Rs78,100. Both of them complain of having to face the music from lenders. “The sarpanch would tell us its government money, you’ll never get cheated. Only if we knew better,” laments Budhya.

Both the NREGA officer Naresh Jadhav and the extension officer R K Gawai at the Vikramgad panchayat samiti refused to comment on the FIR. Gawai tried to rbush off the information on the official website. “That must be wrong information,” he offered.

Thane Zilla Parishad CEO shekhar Gaikwad tried to downplay the FIR. “The dead beneficiaries names showed up since the land holding is in their name. We’ve inquired through the local BDO S Sontakke and didn’t find any irregularities.”

Shiraz Balsara of the adivasi advocacy group Kashtakari Sanghatna which works in the region said, “Such scams do not only constitute fraud against the government but is the worst kind of atrocity against the adivasi who continues to labour under poverty and die of starvation even while money meant for their welfare and development is embezzled.”