Trio 'ostracised' over RTI
Shillong, Aug. 31: Three families in Jongksha have been allegedly
"ostracised" by the local dorbar for filing an RTI application to
bring to light glaring anomalies in the implementation of the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the village.
The Jongksha dorbar shnong, in a meeting on August 12, decided to
"ostracise" the families of Fatima Mynsong, Acquiline Songthiang and
Matilda Suting of the East Khasi Hills village.
Their "fault" was that they had sought information from the block
development office to unearth "anomalies" in the job scheme
implementation.
The women alleged that after the August 12 resolution, they were
deprived of routine ration supplies and lost their right to claim
benefits from the local Anganwadi centre.
When contacted, Jongksha headman Karmelin Rynjah defended the move,
saying a "majority" in the village had endorsed the step.
"We found several anomalies in the implementation of work under the
scheme and hence, we resorted to the RTI Act, 2005, to get the actual
picture," Fatima said today. She said they had filed the application
in 2008 to uncover facts relating to construction of roads and ponds.
From the information furnished by the block office, inter alia, the
women learned that six persons worked as general and skilled labourers
simultaneously. They also found that the former village employment
council (VEC) secretary, Trilinda Rynjah held three job cards.
The women had made appeals to the DRDA project director on October 23,
2008 and February 2, 2009. In addition, they also made an appeal to
the community and rural development department on April 23, 2009 and
the department conducted an inquiry on May 21, 2009.
Community and rural development department director Freeman
Kharlyngdoh said various anomalies were unearthed through the inquiry.
"It was found that there was no accountability on the part of the
VEC," he said.
The official said the job cards with forged signatures on them were
actually possessed by the VEC, in violation of the norms.
The women have now approached the Meghalaya Right to Information
Movement hoping that their struggle would come to its logical end.
--
Urvashi Sharma
RTI Helpmail( Web Based )
aishwaryaj2010@gmail.com
Mobile Rti Helpline
8081898081 ( 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. )
No comments:
Post a Comment