Saturday, 23 June 2012
Irregularities galore in Nuapada land allotment schemes
Irregularities galore in Nuapada land allotment schemes
Earlier I was paying Malgujari (land revenue) and now my son is paying it for a piece of land we are yet to see,” said a landless farm labourer Mahadeb Bag (65) of Birighat village under Khariar tehsil of Nuapada district.
"My joy knew no bounds when I was allotted a patta for a four-dismal homestead land by the Government some 20 years back but we are still to take the land under possession," added Mahadeb.
The Government is distributing both farm and homestead lands to the landless farmers and homeless. Mahadeb was one such fortunate person, who got a patta in 1992, but he has not been shown the land. Since then, he is running from pillar to post to get it but in vain.
"I requested the local revenue inspector several times but each time he assured me to show the land but did not. I went to the local Tehsildar but he also could not deliver me justice till date,” said the old man showing the patta and some revenue receipts.
Mahadeb is a poor farm labourer, who is living in a thatched house in a small piece of land belonging to Masatram Sabar of the village. Mahadeb, a Schedule Cast, was a migrant labourer. Due to his old age now he is not going outside. He has a BPL card and both wife and husband are earning their livelihood by doing whatever work they are getting in the village. But due to the apathy of the revenue officials, the dream home of Mahadeb is shattering day by day.
" This is not an isolated case, there are hundreds of landless poor who have been given pattas but never seen their land or those who have even seen the land they are yet to get the possession as the land is in the possession of someone else," said Ajit Panda, a social activist.
"Due to this, the landless poor and the BPL card holders, who are entitled to the various schemes, including IAY and Mo Kudia are deprived of the benefits," Panda added.
An old couple Nakraman Hira and his wife Teer Hira of Birighat village have been given patta in 2002, but they have too not been shown the land. They have taken shelter in a Government plot near a forest land by building a mud house.
Tikchan Majhi, a tribal farmer of the same village, is now in panic and fighting to save a piece of land of 2.34 acres which he is holding for more than last 50 years. Tikchan and his family have inherited the same land from their forefathers, who had cleared the forest and made it cultivable and fertile. Tikchan and his brothers’ families have 12 members in total who are earning their livelihood by toiling hard and growing both vegetables and crops. The family obtained the lease patta for the land just a few years before the last settlement. Now he has become one of the most successful tribal farmers in the locality, the department of horticulture as well as agriculture also recognized his work. His land is being irrigated by lift irrigation.
But what shocked this tribal farmer is when he heard that the same piece of land has been distributed among 42 homesteadless households of his village in 2002. He was shocked when the revenue inspector visited his land and said he had to vacate it as it had been distributed to others. Tikchan protested and showed the documents to the officials. The record of right of last settlement showed that the land had been under encroachment of Tikchan's family. On this basis, the land was allotted to Tikchan. But to the misfortune of Tikchan, the same land has been recorded again as “basti yogya” (suitable for homestead) during last settlement and redistributed among the homesteadless.
This is just an example of the apathy of the Government machinery. But the fellow poor villagers who have been distributed with pattas seem to be more sensible than the mindless administration. The fellow villagers have refused to take their respective piece of lands into possession even after demarcation and identification by the revenue department.
“Tikchan is also a poor man like us and we have witnessed how the family has developed this land since decades and are earning their livelihood, How can we snatch that from him ?” said Chhelia Majhi, a poor tribal, who has been given a patta of four dismal land.
“We have written to the Government to give us another land instead of this one as we don't want to see one of our fellow brothers to be landless and jobless due to us. Why the Government has given the patta to us of a land which is already in a possession of a fellow villager?” asked Chhelia.
Now, Tikchan has hired an advocate to fight the case in a court for which he has already paid more than Rs10,000 for which he has to take some loan but still he is uncertain about the land he is cultivating as the land has been reverted to the Government Khata (records) at the time of last settlement and redistributed among 42 villagers on record. “When the Tehsildar said me if I did not obtain stay order from the court, he would be forced to use legal means to vacate me, I had no option left but to go to court,” informed Tikchen.
When contacted the Tehsildar said there is no more suitable homestead land in the village to be allotted. So Tikchan must vacate the land for the benefit of the beneficiaries, he advised.
According to a recent survey of Odisha Gabeshana Chakra, 26 per cent families are land less out of its two lakhs families in Nuapada district. Around 20,000 persons have been distributed patta for the lands in last 30 years through different programmes and schemes. But, unfortunately, more than 50 per cent beneficiaries are struggling to have that land. The report further revealed lands of about 2,000 beneficiaries have been reverted to the Government records and redistributed to others.
“This is the fault of the revenue and settlement officials, for which the poor people are suffering. It is unfortunate that the officials do all these with malafide intentions without verifying the ground situation,” said social activist Panda, who was a member the study team.
- F
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
VILLAGERS FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN MGNREGS:
VILLAGERS FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN MGNREGS:
MGNREGS FUND SIPHONED THROUGH GHOST FARM PONDS IN ORISSA
By Purusottam Singh Thakur.
Hari Majhi is dead since long. He has been paid Rs.607.00. Nirekha Jagat,a paralysed man unable to move from bed for more than 7 years has been paid Rs.900.00. Nimesh Sunani, About 10 years old reading at Khariar in a school has been paid Rs.450. Similarly Takemani Bag, A student in a Khariar school has been paid Rs.950.00. Asha Jagat, more than 70 years old was paid with Rs.450.00. Kamu Bag, there is no one is in this name in the village or nearby. Tulu Bag, a student reading in class 5th. Dhaneswar Bag,no one in this name is found in this village.
And the family members of gaon sathi have not worked in the farm pond but have been paid lion’s share of the wage. This is just an example of manipulation in muster rolls in Mahatama Gandhi National Employment Gurantee Scheme in Nuapada district of Odisha. These MRs have made for the work of Dhusasan's farm pond.
The farm pond work of Dhusasan Bag of Jharsaram village of Birighat gram panchayat in Nuapada district in Odisha was started in 2007-08 with an estimated cost of Rs.35,000.00. The work was stopped after an expenditure of roughly 8 thousand. Where as the expenditure shown in the muster rolls and bills of payment is Rs. 32,260.00. But infact neither Hari Majhi who is no more in this world nor any one mentioned above have been paid practically. It was all shown in pen and paper.
And this is not the end of the story. The most startling story comes from the Kusmal village of Khariar block where theft of farm ponds under NREGS has been noticed when Khirasindhu Sagria, a social activist of the same village came to know this through a RTI ( Right to Information). In fact the Khariar block has spent more than Rs.2.13 lacs for the construction of 7 farm ponds in the private plots of 7 beneficiariesof Kusmal village during 2007-8 and 2009. But physically it has not been done. When the beneficiaries came to know this they complained about the matter to the concerned BDO and the district collector of Nuapada district. But no action was taken. Instead to cover up the truth the concerned Junior engineer with the help of the goons of Khariar town took an attempt to dig the ponds by using machines. This was stopped by the villagers and the machine was handed over to the police by the victims and villagers.
"I was staterled when I saw the Muster Rolls. A person named Chandan Sagria had worked in all the farm ponds on the same day. How is it possible?" asks Khirsindhu who had availed information on RTI.
Chandan is the brother-in-law of the Gram Sathi. The Gram Sathi and the J.E have identified 7 to 8 such persons to deposit the wages in their pass books and collect the money later after withdrawl.
"This has been the practice in NREGS all over the district. Name of non-working job card holders are entered in the MRs. Wages are deposited in their bank accounts. The Gram Sathi goes to the Bank with them and collect the wages from them after withdrawl. The booty is then shared amongst the officials involved in the implementation." says Ajit Panda a social activist working in the area.
"The BDOs, Assistant Engineers, Junior Engineers and even the DRDA chief are party to it." adds Ajit.
The procedures of NREGS are not adopted properly. Works are not started in time as per the procedures, payments are delayed. The provisions clearly mention that the works should be started within 15 days of the filing of job application by the job seekers and payments should also be made within 15 days of the completion of the work. But these provisions have not been followed anywhere the district. Villagers run from pillar to post to get work and their payment in time. The job applications are accepted when there is an instruction from the DRDA to start work. Payments have been delayed inveriably in all cases.
"Corruption in MGNREGS is rampent in Nuapada district. More than 50 percent of the farm pond in the district is non existant although expenditures have been made. Out of 10 crores estimated cost for Farm Ponds 4 crores have already been spent and out of this an amount of 2 crores have been manipulated by the corrupt officials." says Tapan Das - a local journalist.
When asked why there is no people's action, The villagers of Kusmal say, "the government officials devide us by bribing some of our people. We quarrel within ourselves, file cases in the police station and court and in the process the corrupt people take the benefit."
Registance against corruption is always supressed through threat on life and legal action by the contractors, corrupt officials and local politicians. The nexus is so strong that some times it is not possible for the common villagers to resist. The culprits in Kusmal have registered criminal cases of rape and snatching Mangal Sutra against Khirasindhu.
"I am not affraied because I am fighting for the rights of the people" says Khirasindhu.
"We are with Khirasindhu because he has unvailed the corruption and helped us fight with the system." say the villagers of Kusmal who are struggling for past 6 months to establish their rights.
The long struggle of the villagers have brought fruits. The matter has been highlited by the press and the administration was pressured to take action. Lobbing by social activists at state and national levels have resulted in inquiry by National level monitors of Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. The Orissa government has initiated action against the government officials involved in the manipulation. "Even the PD, DRDA would not be spared" the Panchayati Raj Minister has said.
In the meantime the PR department in Orissa has taken action against two BDOs, ABDO and the AE for their involvement in ghost farm pond issue in Khariar block of Nuapada district in Orissa.The present BDO Nabin Chandra Naik and his predisessor Mr. Chita Ranjan Bangola, The ABDO, Mr. Bijaya Kumar Muduli and the Assistant Engineer Mr. Keshab Mahanty have been put under suspension. But so far no action has been taken against the PD,DRDA.
Action of the government against the corruption in Kusmal is ofcourse a welcome step. But the action should not stop at this. Such actions have to be widespread to make the NREGS an effective effort to address the issue of food security in an undevelopped district like Nuapada where more then 80 percent of the people are living below the poverty line and more than 30 percent of the house holds regularly migrate under distress conditions to various urban centres in the country in search of livelihood.
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Cheated of land, farmers commit suicide in Balangir
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/39140-cheated-of-land-farmers-commit-suicide-in-balangir.html
Cheated of land, farmers commit suicide in Balangir Tuesday, 31 January 2012 22:15 PURUSOTTAM SINGH THAKUR | Balangir
PoorBest Lingaraj Sahu (55) of Ghumer village in Balangir district who had lost his mental balance after being cheated of his land finally succumbed to shock in September last. Earlier, Madan Kand had taken the same route by committing suicide. Even as six years of a land scam trail continues to kill farmers in this village, the Odisha Government is still sitting on an enquiry file.
“We have been cheated, we are lost,” said Dinger Sahu, the only son of Lingaraj. He, as well as his fellow villagers, finds themselves in a state of helplessness. “Ever since we realised we have been cheated, we have knocked all possible doors but to no avail,” groaned Dinger.
“In 2005, when the company came and lured the villagers with cash and employment in exchange of giving them the lands on lease for a few years, my father and other villagers thought it was going to change their ill fates forever. But, what they got is death. The deal came out to be a fraud in connivance with the local Government officials,” he complains. Lingaraj had lost 11 acres of his farm land to an Agra-based company. So did other villagers.
As Dinger recalled, Sushil Pradhan of Tamiya village and Bikram Acharya, a school teacher of Patnagarh came to our village and arranged a meeting where they informed us that an Agra-based company is planning to open a goshala (dairy) where, along with milk, cow dung-based products such as agarbattis (incense sticks) would be produced. The villagers, who would give their lands on lease at Rs 6,800 per year for three years would also get employment and earn monthly salary of a handsome amount.” This was enough for the villagers to agree and they blindly believed because local people with common references had come.
Mahesh Dixit, who represented the company Taj Gases from Agra, even took a pledge in the local village temple about this and the simple and gullible villagers could not smell any rat. However, to woo them further to be able to clear any doubt, the villagers were invited to a feast at nearby market area at night where the Tehsildar and some other officials were also present. The people were also offered alcoholic drinks and were then asked to sign on stamp papers. “My father thought this was lease deed but later, when we got mutation notices, he realised that this was sale deed,” recalled a mournful Dinger.
“Had the company told us about selling the lands we would never have gone even closer to those demons,” rued Tulsi Sahu, Lingaraj’s widow, adding, how their valuable trees like Mahua and others worth more than Rs 20,000 were also cut by the company and taken away. “When my husband started contacting other people and went to police station, Bikram Acharaya of Patnagarh town, who was the broker in that land deal for the company, came here threatening him of dire consequences. Finding no signs of any support, he died, which followed with death of my mother-in-law,” rued Tulsi as her voice breaks.
Lingaraj is not the only case. There are another 10 families in the village who have lost their land to this fraudulent deal done by the company in support of local brokers, administration and police. These 11 families have lost 60 acres of land.
Damru was collecting other forest produces and fire wood from his land which is now under the clutches of an exploiting company guarded by its goons. “The company gave me Rs 42,000 at Rs 7,000 per acre for agreeing upon lease deal which I have already spent and in penury now,” he complains.
Another victim of the scam, Chhabi Sahu, who lost near two acres of land, said, “The company and the land brokers looted us by blackmailing. They distributed Agra’s sweet petha” and lured the villagers with both money and employment. They dealt about lease but made us sign blank papers meant for agreements. We could not smell foul as they were very sweet spoken.” He further said, “They came in two Marshall jeeps and took us to the Patnagarh daily market, where they kept us in a place and provided us with mutton rice and liquor. They took our sign and said it was the agreement paper for the three years lease. But they did a sale deed in the late evening in the Registrar’s office. By the time we realised it, we were finished.” “We are still unable to understand how the Government officials who leave office by 4 or 5 pm were operating till late night that day. They dropped us at 11 pm in the night. It was a dark night for us,” said Chhabi.
Such stories are pouring from the neighbouring villages as well. Krushna Banchor of Ghunghutipali is also a victim of this nexus. “I lost 6.92 acres of land. We were also convinced with the same story of establishing a goshala and employing our children for which they asked us to lease out the land for three years to which we agreed,” said Krushna. “But later we were taken aback when we were served with the notice for mutation of the land. Since then we are running from pillar to post to get justice, but in vain. Even the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) made an enquiry and submitted report to the Government in our favour but nothing is moving in our favour in reality,” said Krushna.
Ajit Panda, a human rights activist, who is now trying to help the villagers, said, “About 640 acres of land have been taken away by several companies in this district in the same manner. We are now studying the issue in detail and will approach higher forums of justice if the Government fails to reclaim land for the poor farmers.”
The callousness of the administration in one of Odisha’s most backward and poorest districts is not understandable. The Government claims it is more concerned about the backward KBK region consisting undivided districts like Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput. It also said it is trying to bring solutions to the existing large scale distressed migration of people from these districts to brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh and other places. But in practice, it proved otherwise.
BJP MLA KV Singh Deo, representing the Patnagarh constituency said, “I came to know about this matter two years back when some villagers came to meet me in Bhubaeswar and apprised me of this. They also wanted me to arrange a meeting with Board of Revenue member SP Nanda, what I arranged. Nanda promised an enquiry so I thought things would be solved. Now I realise that the enquiry has been made by the RDC and the matter is in the court.”
Some villagers however accuse that one of the key brokers — Bikram Acharya — is a member of the RSS linked to the BJP and hence the MLA has not taken any interest. Singh Deo refutes this and said, “I don’t know who is involved. However, I would urge the Government to take steps against the brokers irrespective of their party affiliations.”
In fact the RDC report, which was complete long ago and was already submitted to the Government, was kept in cold storage. Recently, some RTI activists asked for a copy of this report and then only it came to the limelight that the RDC had favoured giving back the land to the poor farmers as it was clearly taken away by fraud manners.
In the meantime the company has started eucalyptus plantation on the land which it took for a goshala.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist)Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:06 PM
Cheated of land, farmers commit suicide in Balangir Tuesday, 31 January 2012 22:15 PURUSOTTAM SINGH THAKUR | Balangir
PoorBest Lingaraj Sahu (55) of Ghumer village in Balangir district who had lost his mental balance after being cheated of his land finally succumbed to shock in September last. Earlier, Madan Kand had taken the same route by committing suicide. Even as six years of a land scam trail continues to kill farmers in this village, the Odisha Government is still sitting on an enquiry file.
“We have been cheated, we are lost,” said Dinger Sahu, the only son of Lingaraj. He, as well as his fellow villagers, finds themselves in a state of helplessness. “Ever since we realised we have been cheated, we have knocked all possible doors but to no avail,” groaned Dinger.
“In 2005, when the company came and lured the villagers with cash and employment in exchange of giving them the lands on lease for a few years, my father and other villagers thought it was going to change their ill fates forever. But, what they got is death. The deal came out to be a fraud in connivance with the local Government officials,” he complains. Lingaraj had lost 11 acres of his farm land to an Agra-based company. So did other villagers.
As Dinger recalled, Sushil Pradhan of Tamiya village and Bikram Acharya, a school teacher of Patnagarh came to our village and arranged a meeting where they informed us that an Agra-based company is planning to open a goshala (dairy) where, along with milk, cow dung-based products such as agarbattis (incense sticks) would be produced. The villagers, who would give their lands on lease at Rs 6,800 per year for three years would also get employment and earn monthly salary of a handsome amount.” This was enough for the villagers to agree and they blindly believed because local people with common references had come.
Mahesh Dixit, who represented the company Taj Gases from Agra, even took a pledge in the local village temple about this and the simple and gullible villagers could not smell any rat. However, to woo them further to be able to clear any doubt, the villagers were invited to a feast at nearby market area at night where the Tehsildar and some other officials were also present. The people were also offered alcoholic drinks and were then asked to sign on stamp papers. “My father thought this was lease deed but later, when we got mutation notices, he realised that this was sale deed,” recalled a mournful Dinger.
“Had the company told us about selling the lands we would never have gone even closer to those demons,” rued Tulsi Sahu, Lingaraj’s widow, adding, how their valuable trees like Mahua and others worth more than Rs 20,000 were also cut by the company and taken away. “When my husband started contacting other people and went to police station, Bikram Acharaya of Patnagarh town, who was the broker in that land deal for the company, came here threatening him of dire consequences. Finding no signs of any support, he died, which followed with death of my mother-in-law,” rued Tulsi as her voice breaks.
Lingaraj is not the only case. There are another 10 families in the village who have lost their land to this fraudulent deal done by the company in support of local brokers, administration and police. These 11 families have lost 60 acres of land.
Damru was collecting other forest produces and fire wood from his land which is now under the clutches of an exploiting company guarded by its goons. “The company gave me Rs 42,000 at Rs 7,000 per acre for agreeing upon lease deal which I have already spent and in penury now,” he complains.
Another victim of the scam, Chhabi Sahu, who lost near two acres of land, said, “The company and the land brokers looted us by blackmailing. They distributed Agra’s sweet petha” and lured the villagers with both money and employment. They dealt about lease but made us sign blank papers meant for agreements. We could not smell foul as they were very sweet spoken.” He further said, “They came in two Marshall jeeps and took us to the Patnagarh daily market, where they kept us in a place and provided us with mutton rice and liquor. They took our sign and said it was the agreement paper for the three years lease. But they did a sale deed in the late evening in the Registrar’s office. By the time we realised it, we were finished.” “We are still unable to understand how the Government officials who leave office by 4 or 5 pm were operating till late night that day. They dropped us at 11 pm in the night. It was a dark night for us,” said Chhabi.
Such stories are pouring from the neighbouring villages as well. Krushna Banchor of Ghunghutipali is also a victim of this nexus. “I lost 6.92 acres of land. We were also convinced with the same story of establishing a goshala and employing our children for which they asked us to lease out the land for three years to which we agreed,” said Krushna. “But later we were taken aback when we were served with the notice for mutation of the land. Since then we are running from pillar to post to get justice, but in vain. Even the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) made an enquiry and submitted report to the Government in our favour but nothing is moving in our favour in reality,” said Krushna.
Ajit Panda, a human rights activist, who is now trying to help the villagers, said, “About 640 acres of land have been taken away by several companies in this district in the same manner. We are now studying the issue in detail and will approach higher forums of justice if the Government fails to reclaim land for the poor farmers.”
The callousness of the administration in one of Odisha’s most backward and poorest districts is not understandable. The Government claims it is more concerned about the backward KBK region consisting undivided districts like Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput. It also said it is trying to bring solutions to the existing large scale distressed migration of people from these districts to brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh and other places. But in practice, it proved otherwise.
BJP MLA KV Singh Deo, representing the Patnagarh constituency said, “I came to know about this matter two years back when some villagers came to meet me in Bhubaeswar and apprised me of this. They also wanted me to arrange a meeting with Board of Revenue member SP Nanda, what I arranged. Nanda promised an enquiry so I thought things would be solved. Now I realise that the enquiry has been made by the RDC and the matter is in the court.”
Some villagers however accuse that one of the key brokers — Bikram Acharya — is a member of the RSS linked to the BJP and hence the MLA has not taken any interest. Singh Deo refutes this and said, “I don’t know who is involved. However, I would urge the Government to take steps against the brokers irrespective of their party affiliations.”
In fact the RDC report, which was complete long ago and was already submitted to the Government, was kept in cold storage. Recently, some RTI activists asked for a copy of this report and then only it came to the limelight that the RDC had favoured giving back the land to the poor farmers as it was clearly taken away by fraud manners.
In the meantime the company has started eucalyptus plantation on the land which it took for a goshala.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist)Tuesday, January 31, 2012 11:06 PM
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