Even while reports of migration from drought-hit areas of Maharashtra continue to pour in, the latest data of preparatory works under the rural job guarantee scheme shows that, on paper, the government has many jobs to offer to its distressed population.
Labour activists have rebuked the numbers put out by the government at the end of March as ‘fake’, claiming that lakhs of people are migrating from the State in the absence of farm jobs. The Maharashtra government claims it has 4,14,624 ‘shelf’ jobs, as of now, to be handed out in distressed areas, with drought-hit Marathwada alone accounting for 1,10,634 available jobs — the highest — under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
While those on the ground claim no work is reaching them in the villages, officials say jobs under the employment guarantee scheme is demand driven, and people are possibly not coming forward to claim work. Activists, however, say gram sevaks are not able to reach priority areas, while tehsildars are delaying sanctioning of work. Under the EGS, the gram sabha is assigned the task of recommending works with priorities to the gram panchayat to prepare an annual shelf of works. It makes agencies responsible for approving work in a time-bound manner.
“The statistics are clearly fake, these (shelf works) are just useless works that do not serve any purpose and have been kept aside by marking just the survey numbers. This past year alone, nearly 50,00,000 people have migrated from the State but this government has not reached out to provide any jobs,” said Rajan Kshirsagar of the Bhartiya Khet Majdoor Union.
According to the data available, of the 4,14,624 works available, the highest are in Marathwada, and the lowest (53,249) in the Konkan region. While senior officials admitted that the government’s outreach programme may be falling short, there was no way to record migration.
Local activists blame the tehsildars who are refusing to sanction work. “Villagers are desperate for work. But the tehsildar is just not sanctioning it,” said Jayaji Suryawanshi, activist from Aurangabad.
