Corruption stumbling block in NREGS in nation: Chief Justice Saika

Seminar on NREGS with special reference to Sikkim by High Court


GANGTOK, October 31: Highlighting corruption as a major stumbling block towards the implementation of NREGS in the nation, Sikkim High Court Chief Justice Aftab H Saika opined that the judiciary has a lot to do to help to realize the objectives of the Act enacted in 2005 by the Parliament.

Legislations are made but questions remain when it comes to the implementation part and corruption is a major stumbling block to the laudable and ambitious legislation of NREGA, said the Chief Justice while inaugurating the day long seminar on ‘implementation of NREGS in the Northeast with special reference to Sikkim’.
The seminar is in the series of activities being organized by the High Court as part of its year long golden jubilee celebrations.

Today’s seminar was organized at the auditorium hall of Tashi Namgyal Academy here at Gangtok.

In his inaugural speech, the Chief Justice said that checks and balances have to be put in the NREGS and the judiciary must introspect as to what extent it can assist in the properly implementation of the Act. He also extended full help from the High Court of Sikkim in this regard.

Speaking on the occasion, Lok Sabha member PD Rai pointed out the challenges of timely payment and use of the labourers into productive work in the NREGS. Monitoring of the works done is also a challenge where the role of social auditing is very important, he said.

Rai said that the NREGS is an Act passed by the Parliament to provide livelihood security to the poor people in the rural areas and hence, there is a huge difference between NREGS and other flagship programmes of the Union government.
State Rural Development Minister CB Karki said that NREGS is a unique safety net for the poor people in the country and there is a need to translate the objectives of the Act into a reality. He said that the NREGS has completed 3 years of implementation in Sikkim and has now been universalized in all the GPUs of the State.

Karki said that around 52,000 households in rural Sikkim had participated in the programme in the year 2008-09 and a sum of Rs. 25 crores were released in payment stimulating the rural economy. Transparency has also been maintained with payments through banks and post offices and regular social auditing by reputed NGOs, he said.

The NREGS has helped in strengthening the Panchayati Raj Insitution, said the minister pointing the lack of timely payment of wages and proper maintenance of documents as the challenges faced by Sikkim in the implementation of the national programme.

Earlier, High Court Judge Justice AP Subba presented the welcome address where he highlighted the constitutional and legal aspects of the NREGS.
High Court Judge Justice SP Wangdi presented the vote of thanks.

Later in the afternoon, the working session of the seminar was held which was participated by Rural Development secretary AK Ganeriwala, Chief Judicial Magistrate (East & North) Lakchung Sherpa, Sikkim University assistant professor Binu Sundas, advocate Laxmi Chakraborty and Sikkim University assistant professor Dr Satya Brata Singh followed by an open house discussion.
Source:SikkimExpress