New Delhi, May 17 : In the North-East, the NREGA, the UPA government’s flagship rural regeneration programme, has become an incentive for infiltration of Bangladeshis.
The union rural development ministry has of late been alarmed over reports that the benefits of the scheme in the states bordering Bangladesh are being cornered primarily by the infiltrators.
Worried over the reports that funds earmarked for the programme are being pocketed by the Bangladeshis, the union rural development ministry has now been constrained to send advisories to the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram to screen the job-seekers very carefully before providing them with work.
“These states have been asked to verify the credentials of the applicants before preparing their job-cards,’’ sources in the rural development ministry said. The diversion of funds earmarked for the NREGA in the north-eastern states lends further credence to the principal opposition party, the BJP’s charge that the influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh was part of a well-designed pattern aimed not only wrecking the region’s economy, but also changing its entire demography.
“When the programme was first introduced in these north-eastern states, we were worried over reports that the local inhabitants were not too keen on taking up projects. Suddenly, there was a deluge in the number of people seeking work under the programme, leading to a corresponding increase in the amount of funds demanded by these states under the programme. This set alarm bells ringing in the ministry,’’ the sources said.
Field reports sent from these states corroborated fears that NREGA funds were being cornered by the Bangladeshis. “These elements followed a clear pattern. They’d complete the work, collect their wages and go back to Bangladesh, leaving no trace of their whereabouts,’’ the ministry sources added.
While the exact quantum of funds lost in the process is yet to ascertained, Krishi Bhawan officials admit that a substantial amount of money may have found its way into the Bangladesh economy through this route.
For the rural development ministry, which is already battling charges of large-scale corruption in the programme’s implementation and the fact that its benefits were not really reaching target groups in quite a few states, reports of fund-diversion to Bangladeshis in the north-eastern region have come as a huge shock.
There are also fears that in the absence of full-proof measures to detect illegal migrants from across the border, funds earmarked for the NREGA would continue to reach the wrong people.
Agencies
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