DIMAPUR — The
Kacharigaon (Phevima) Village Council has resolved that for the 2024–25
financial year, it will not return the 30% wage component demanded by the Rural
Development Department under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MGNREGA). The resolution has been submitted to the department concerned.
Kacharigaon (Phevima) Village Council chairman Vitho Zao
(centre) addresses a press conference in Dimapur on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference at the village’s panchayat
hall on Saturday, council chairman Vitho Zao alleged that the Rural Development
Department has been demanding a 30% cut from the wage component and 50% from
the material component, both of which are part of MGNREGA’s fund disbursement.
Zao informed that the decision to resist these deductions
was taken during a general meeting of the village held on May 31. He explained
that from 2024–2025 onwards, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has
started crediting the wage component directly into the bank accounts of job
card holders.
Despite this direct transfer, the department has been
instructing the village council to collect 30% of the amount from each
beneficiary and return it to the department, he said.
Questioning the practicality of this demand, Zao pointed out
that the daily wage under MGNREGA is only INR 234, and deducting 30% from that
would leave beneficiaries with just over INR 160—a meagre amount for hard
labour. It is unacceptable to ask poor villagers to give up their limited
earning, he said.
He also referred to the village audit report of 2023–2024,
which revealed that a significant portion of the material component was
returned to the department. This sparked discontent among the villagers, who
began accusing the Village Development Board (VDB) secretary, council chairman,
gaon buras, and other office bearers of siphoning the funds.
Zao stated that these suspicions have been aggravated by the
department’s failure to provide official receipts for returned amounts.
"When there is no documentation, villagers naturally hold us accountable,”
he said.
Further complicating matters, Zao said the material component
under MGNREGA is often released 10 months to a year after work begins, even
though it is essential for project execution. The department’s alleged
solution, he claimed, is to instruct villages to divert funds from the wage
component to purchase materials upfront.
This practice, he said, is being followed across the entire
state of Nagaland.
Declaring their stand, Zao reiterated that the council will
neither return the 30% wage cut nor the 50% deduction from the material
component. He appealed to the state government to stop taking what rightfully
belongs to the villagers and urged other villages to rise in solidarity and
resist this form of blackmail.
He alleged that the department routinely withholds future
project work from villages that do not comply with these deductions, a practice
that has persisted since the inception of MGNREGA in the state.
When questioned why an FIR had not been filed, Zao said the
issue has emerged from a well-established system of corruption. He explained
that VDB secretaries are forced to sign documents falsely certifying that no
deductions were made, which allows the department to show no wrongdoing on
their part.
He added that the money transfers are not made through
cheque or RTGS, but in cash, and the department does not issue any receipts for
these payments.
According to him, the village returned an amount of INR
6,78,255 from the material component to the department in 2023–2024.
VDB Secretary Kevishel Viswensto, who was also present,
stated that Nagaland has about 1,285 villages and 74 blocks, yet theirs is the
only village publicly raising this issue.
