Panchayat Thieves Must Be Caught, Till Then No Money, The Center Cleared With A Letter

Rafiqul Jamadar

The Mamata Banerjee government has taken several steps in the past few months to curb theft and irregularities at the panchayat level. But the Center is not willing to close the coffin of old irregularities that it has opened so easily. Instead, the Narendra Modi government gave Nabanna a hint that the dues cannot be paid until the old ‘theft’ and irregularities are settled.

It is good to mention here that the outstanding amount is more than 5000 crore rupees only in the ‘One Hundred Days Work’ project. There is no telling how big the money is for the financially strapped state.

The BJP had been alleging rampant theft of the 100-day jobs scheme in the state. The leaders of the state also wrote a series of letters to Delhi in this regard. So that Delhi takes strict measures. It was probably after their above letter that Delhi sent the Central Observing Team to Bengal. In 15 districts of the state, they pointed out theft and irregularities in panchayats. And clears that the amount of false expenditure and irregularity has to be recovered. Not only that, action should be taken against all the workers, and officers who have committed these corruptions at the panchayat level. Then the action is taken report or ATR should be sent to the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

The state did so after receiving that letter from Delhi. Jellawadi sent a letter asking to find fake expenses and file an FIR against the culprits. That report was first published in The Wall. Districts were asked to report by September 9.

After that, it can be seen that approximately 2 crore rupees of false expenses have been recovered by Navanna i.e. Panchayat Department. Then sent action taken report to Delhi showed that calculation.

But Delhi is not at all satisfied with Navanna’s report. Dharambir Jha, Director of One Hundred Days Work Project, said in a letter to the Panchayat and Rural Development Secretary of the state on Thursday, November 3, that the report should not be given in this way. I want a more detailed report

Delhi claims—

• All money spent on works where due process was not followed must be recovered.

• The pouring of permission for land development under the 100 days work should be stopped. Only those works permitted by the District Project Officer will be carried out. Incidentally, the complaint in this regard is that money has been stolen in the name of 100 days project.

• The central observation team came to Bengal and raised questions about all the soil dumping works, all the money spent on those works should be recovered.

• Legal action or disciplinary action should be taken against all government employees or panchayat workers embezzling public money by doing soil dumping work. According to the Centre, the fund has been misappropriated in the name of dumping soil on the existing road.

• To avoid scrutiny, money has been spent in various sectors under the Hundred Days Project in many cases. In that case, the central team has identified the irregularities and action should be taken against the accused government employees.

• That money has also been used for activities not covered under the Hundred Days Project. The state has to recover all that money.

• The State has to maintain proper books of account in the Hundred Day Work Scheme. Keeping track of how much work has been done, how much work has been spent, etc. is mandatory.

It is clear in this letter how tough the Center is going. And it is clearly stated that if the bogus expenses cannot be recovered, the outstanding amount will not be settled.

After receiving the letter from Delhi, the state panchayat department informed the 15 districts of the state that they should immediately prepare and send an action-taken report as directed by the center.

According to many observers, the state will have to take action against a large number of government workers and officers at the panchayat level if the Centre’s directives are to be followed properly. Apart from that, false expenses and irregularity should be recovered. As such, there will be doubts about whether the Center will be satisfied. The point is that before the panchayat polls, Delhi’s access to money became even more uncertain.

According to many in Bengal’s political camp, the BJP may be realizing that it will not get along politically with the Trinamool. Therefore, seeking to account for irregularities, they want to walk the path of economic blockade. So that the state government can be proved administratively failed. Because, they may be hoping that if money is withheld in this way, the state will be disoriented.

In this regard, the senior leader of the state Congress, Abdul Mannan, said on Friday, “Since the UPA era, looting has been going on in the 100-day work project. Then we also attracted the attention of Delhi. Again Delhi also warned the state. The fact is, the Congress government takes a very liberal stance. BJP is not like that. The state is really under pressure this time. Now see how it handles!”

However, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendushekhar Roy said, “Actually, the central government is trying to kill the people of Bengal with rice. They are repeatedly losing elections, that’s why they are doing this.”

‘The rate the High Court is asking to pay DA is impossible, and could be a disaster, the state went to the Supreme Court.