NREGS problem in Dangs: Needs men for own posts

Shortage of staff to monitor the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Dangs district of Gujarat has rendered the initiative ineffective.

Shortage of staff to monitor the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Dangs district of Gujarat has rendered the initiative ineffective. Dangs is one of the six districts in the state where the NREGS has been launched.

“It is impossible for us to work and monitor the scheme in 311 villages with four supervisors. The hilly terrain makes it even more difficult because the villages are scattered on the hills,” said the district development officer of Dangs. With over 95 per cent tribal population, Dangs has 311 villages divided into 70 village panchayats and all are covered under the scheme.

Authorities informed that around 37,592 job cards have been issued in the district but only over 6,000 persons have been employed in various projects initiated under the NREGS. When the scheme was launched in February 2005, 10 supervisors from the Irrigation Department were posted in Dangs to supervise its implementation at the panchayat level. Access staff from the department was also posted in the six districts covered under the scheme. After one year, only four of the 10 supervisors are still working for the NREGS. The others, who did not like the job, were transferred elsewhere.

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There is also a shortage of administrative staff at the headquarter. “Two clerks were to look after the paper work at the district level. Both are on long leave. Moreover, since no one was sanctioned for the office of taluka programme officer, he has to supervise works in all the 70 panchayats,” informed the additional district programme coordinator.

Dangs MLA Madhubhai Bhoye, who has been trying to draw the attention of the higher authorities to the staff crunch here, said the scheme has been a failure because the state government did not sanction sufficient staff.