Vijay Vadvi, resident of Maharashtra has 'received' Rs. 1,45,000 pay sanction in his bank account, under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) between 2006 to 2013. What is shocking is that Vijay has never worked one day under the scheme.
Vijay, a full-time activist with the Narmada Bachao Andolan, was shocked to further see that his family members including his mother, sister, father also 'received' Rs. 1,42,593 during these years in MGNREGA. This despite the fact that none of his family members ever applied for employement under the programme which guarantees 100 days of work in a financial year to any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. "My sister was married before 2006 and my father is no more" tells Vijay, wondering how the officials sanctioned these wages. Upon further investigations, Vijay reveals "These wages were sanctioned to a fake account. I don't even have a bank account. "
"I found these details on the internet," said Vijay. In fact, he was not even present in the village on the days that claim 'he had worked' in the scheme. "In 2006-08 I was studying in Pune. Post that, I became a full-time activist attending various dharn"as, meetings, trainings, etc." he tells us.
Armed with proofs of these activities, Vijay complained to the collector of Dhadgaon in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra along with a letter stating the same, dated 29th July '13. Since then officials have undertaken various observations and interviews with Vijay, but three years hence, officials are yet to start inquiry into the matter.
"Through this video my community only asks that money from this corruption should be collected by the government and strict action be taken against the perpetrators" says Video Volunteers Community Correspondent Chetan Salve.
Lend Chetan and his community your voice by calling the Revenue Officer of Akrani, Nandurbar, Maharashtra on +91 2595220232.
Community correspondent Chetan Salve reports from Maharashtra for Video Volunteers.
This video was made by a Video Volunteers Community Correspondent. Community Correspondents come from marginalised communities in India and produce videos on unreported stories. These stories are ’news by those who live it.’ they give the hyper local context to global human rights and development challenges. See more such videos at www.videovolunteers.org. Take action for a more just global media by sharing their videos and joining in their call for change. we could hyperlink to some VV pages, like our take action page.
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