“I lost my husband in the accident as he went elsewhere for work. I was rejected a National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) job card by the local officials though I have experience in doing earth work. Had I got a card, things would have been different. Now, how can I feed my children, aged parents and in-laws,” asked Katta Ratnam, who lost her husband Katta Rambabu in the accident.
Ratnam says the local field assistant of NREGS denied her a job card because she was a woman and only men were given job cards, that too only when there was work in the area.
All the 35 persons who had gone to Chintalapudi village in West Godavari district were daily labourers.
Every quarter about 10,000 workers from Sringavaram, V.J. Puram villages of Prattipadu mandal, Sankhavaram, Rowthulapudi, Tondangi, Kirlampudi and parts of Jaggampeta and other upland mandals migrate to other districts in search of work.
Daily wages in this upland area were around Rs.200 per day and the maximum man days were 150 to 200.
“If we please the field officer, he sends us for work to places 15 km away from our village.
He keeps Rs. 30 to 40 for himself as ‘tip’ and we end up getting Rs. 100 to Rs.130 a day,” said Guda Appa Rao and Kadigatla Siva, who were injured in the accident.
They said workers head towards Chintalapudi as they get Rs.300 to Rs.400 per day from the land owners.
Speaking to The Hindu, Varupula Subba Rao, Prattipadu MLA from YSR Congress, said there was plenty of NREGS work in his constituency, but the government was not providing work to the labourers.
MLC Pilli Subashchandra Bose said NREGS works had stopped in many areas of the State.
If we please the field officer, he sends us for work to places 15 km away from our village. He keeps Rs. 30 to 40 for himself as ‘tip’
- accident victims
