‘Take action against corrupt VEC’

SHILLONG, MAY 1: Agitated over the inaction of the police and district authority, members of the  Mawkneng Seng Samla and the  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) job card holders demanded legal action against the Village Employment Council (VEC) its chairman and secretary of the VEC Dran Kharpuli and Disnar War for alleged misappropriation of public money sanctioned under the scheme.

The VEC falls under the Kyndong-Wahlang in Sohiong village in East Khasi hills district

Mawkneng Seng Samla president C Rani told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. “We demand Kharpuli and War be punished for misutilizing  the money sanctioned by the government for the construction of a 2 km village road.”

Rani informed the alleged misuse of the fund was revealed in the RTI findings provided by office of the Block Development Office (BDO) on July 12, 2013. He said the RTI reveals that the expenditure and the construction work do not tally.

Based on the RTI findings, a complaint was lodged with the East Khasi hills deputy commissioner on November 5, 2013 who directed the Mawphlang BDO to institute an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation.

Rani, however, said the BDO report had stated that only R 1.58 lakh was found to be misappropriated by the   VEC of the village. He said that the total fund sanctioned for the project was Rs 9.53 lakh which included Rs 5.50 lakh for payment to workers and Rs 3 lakh for purchase of materials.

Rani said the BDO’s report is not acceptable as people alleged it was bias as the funds which was misutilized might be over 2-3 lakh rupees.

Rani said as per the RTI report the materials purchased which includes  boulders and sands was around 30 trucks but the job card holders working at the site said only two trucks were seen unloading the materials. He said, “The workers also said they were only busy with removing earth from the site.”

Rani said the VEC had also failed to come clear on the issue even after repeated demands.

Rani also alleged that even after they filed an FIR with the SP  and a case was registered but no action has been taken against the VEC members.

Rani also revealed that the job card holders alleged that both the VEC chairman and secretary had kept their passbooks and job cards in their custody and were returned only after repeated demand. He said, “But most of the passbooks were tampered with white ink.”

Interestingly it is also alleged that the VEC chairman and the secretary had also mentioned in the job cards that wages for the 2022 and 2025 had already been released. Rani also said, “The misappropriation of the funds is very huge and we reiterate the need to take immediate action against such functionaries.”- By Our Reporter