Darjeeling Rural bodies to function again

Darjeeling: Members of hill panchayats are back at work, two years after their term got over.

Anil Verma, the principal secretary of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), said committees comprising former gram panchayat pradhans and members would be formed to supervise the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the hills.

“The decision was taken because the scheme has to be implemented through the gram panchayats and there are no functioning panchayats in the DGHC area,” said Verma.

The term of the rural bodies in the Darjeeling hills expired in June 2005 and there has been no election to the vacant posts since.

The strength of each committee will depend on the number of members that existed in the gram panchayat concerned. While the committees will be headed by the former gram panchayat pradhans, the block development officers, too, will play a pivotal role as ex-officio council development officers or programme officers.

“The committees, which will also include members of NGOs working in the locality, will have the responsibility of ensuring that unemployed people are enlisted for work under the scheme,” said Verma.

The scheme guarantees 100 days’ work for unskilled, unemployed workers. The principal secretary said if two persons from the same family are enlisted, the government would ensure that each of them gets at least 50 days of work in a year.

The projects will be demand-based, which means they will continue until all the enlisted people are given 100 days of work. All the proposed projects must incorporate a provision to ensure that 60 percent of the allocated funds is used to pay for manual labour.

“We cannot consider projects where the majority of the funds is used to buy construction material. This component has to be restricted to 40 percent of the estimated total cost,” said the principal secretary.

This essentially means that the projects to be undertaken under the employment guarantee scheme will be aimed at creating those community assets that do not require expensive construction material. Works like digging unpaved roads in villages, or constructing drains and pavements are likely to be taken up under it.

It is the policy of the government to provide at least six months of preparatory period to officials concerned before the rural employment guarantee scheme is implemented. However, the principal secretary said an exception would be made in the case of the hills and the council is likely to implement the scheme by the first week of August.

Source: The Telegraph