Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity

PBKMS protests on NREGA in Nadia
11 April, 2011: Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) protested at Krishnanagar District Head quarters in Nadia district to demand pending wages, work and food on 5 April.
Hundreds of PBKMS members armed with empty plates, of women and men surrounded the District Magistrate’s office, giving slogans of “A Government that breaks its own law has no right to rule”.

The Government, has violated the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act by refusing to accept applications for work, by not providing them work and by not paying them wages in time. It had also violated Supreme Court orders on pensions and rations. Thus,

  1. 1,941 members of PBKMS and its fraternal organisation Shramajeevi Mahila Samity had demanded work for 37,693 days in the past four months, but had not been provided employment.
  2. Workers in only 4 Panchayats from 3 blocks were owed wages of Rs. 10.24 million –again payments were pending for over 4 months.
  3. Workers demanded payment of unemployment allowance and compensation for late payment of wages.
  4. There were serious anomalies in the survey that had been done to identify below poverty line (BPL) families. For example, an entire village (Goraimari of Mahatpur Gram Panchayat in Chapra Block) was missing from the Rural Household Survey list, depriving such families of the entitlements due to below poverty line families. An old man had been given a certificate by the Panchayat Pradhan, saying he was a beggar, but still found no place on the BPL list.
  5. There were more than a hundred old women and men present in the Dharna who said their pensions had been stopped, because their names had inexplicably been struck off the BPL list.
  6. After the furore created in the Supreme Court on the issue of food grains rotting in Government godowns, while millions starved in the country, additional rations had been sanctioned by the Government of India in October and December 2011. These had not reached the ration card holders in Nadia. The PBKMS members demanded punishment of corrupt government officials and ration dealers, and immediate distribution of all food grains due to them from October.

In earlier discussions and meetings with district level and state level officials earlier, when these problems were brought up, a strange picture was presented to the PBKMS members. It was not that the Government was short of money for creation of employment or payment of wages under the NREGS. The district of Nadia had an unspent balance of Rs. 28 crores, but this was lying idle with some blocks and Gram Panchayats (GP), while others were unable to pay wages because they had no money. The district did not seem to have the power to shift the money from one block to the other.
A team of nine persons, led by Bela Adak, Nadia district PBKMS organiser, spent two hours fighting on these issues with Rashmi Kamal, the Additional District Magistrate (General), while over five hundred members of the PBKMS and SMS waited patiently outside in the sun. Members of Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights, Bandi Mukti Committee, New Trade Union Initiative and many other local organisations extended their support to the dharna. While the PBKMS had invited all political parties, interestingly, only the Trinamul Congress candidate for the Krishnanagar Dakshin constituency and the President of the Town Trinamul Congress came to express solidarity with the people on dharna.
The team emerged to say that the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) had first claimed to have transferred sufficient funds to all GPs to pay for pending wages. However, the team proved that while the ADM had transferred only Rs. 5-6 lakhs to a GP, just PBKMS members were owed more than Rs.20 lakhs in a single GP. The ADM finally agreed to send an officer immediately to every affected GP and to ensure payment of wages within the next four days. The ADM had also claimed that they were unable to give work or accept work applications as this was a violation of the Election Code. The team forced the ADM to immediately phone up the Election Commission on this matter after which she admitted that she had been mistaken, and issued letters to 12 GPs asking them to give work immediately.
On all other issues, the ADM followed the usual bureaucratic procedure of referring the matter to another department. The issue of unemployment allowance and compensation for late payment of wages has been referred by the ADM to her immediate boss, as she does not have the powers to do anything about such issues. Similarly, the District Controller of Food and Civil Supplies has been asked to look into the matter of corruption of ration dealers and undistributed rations, while the anomalies in the BPL list and old age pensions have been referred to the concerned officials.
The dharna ended with the decision to go back to the GPs to ensure immediate payment of wages and starting of new works under NREGS. A meeting with the District Food and Civil Supplies Controller has also been fixed for 11th April, while all other issues are also to be followed up immediately.

NREGS Workers In West Bengal will Lose Rs.146 crores

Kolkata, 17 December 2009: On 17th December 2009,Shri Anisur Rehman, Panchayat Minister of West Bengal, announced at a press conference that NREGS wages were being revised to Rs.100 per day. What these statements however do not reveal is how the State Governments have cheated NREGS workers of their rightful arrear payments by about Rs.500-000 per job card holder.

Wage revision for NREGS has been in the offing since February 2009 , when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared in his budget speech that they would pay Rs.100 as wages for NREGA in 2009-10. Rural Development Ministry (GoI) soon after that asked states to send in request for revision of wages. It said later that it was willing to pay revised wages with retrospective effect from 1st April 2009.

West Bengal Government, disregarding even the fact that the West Bengal legal minimum wage for agricultural workers was Rs.87.50 from 1 April onwards, asked for a revision to Rs.81 only from the Central Government. In protest, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) wrote on 27th July 2009 to Dr MN Roy , Principal Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development Department, asking for at least minimum wages of Rs.87.50 to be paid and later on 20th November 2009 asking for Rs.100.

In addition, the National Alliance of Agricultural Worker Unions (of which PBKMS is a member) also brought the issue of revising wages and removing the 100 days cap in view of the drought and spiralling prices to the attention of the Central Employment Guarantee Council through its letter dated 6th October 2009. In response, the Central Government informed the National Alliance that they were willing to revise wages to Rs.100 if the State Governments requested them to do so. The Central Government also stated that the cap on 100 days could also be lifted, again if the State Governments used the funds provided to them under the Calamity Relief Fund.

It has now been notified that the West Bengal Government will pay Rs.87.50 from 2nd December 2009 and Rs. 100 from 1st January 2009. On the whole this means that workers in West Bengal have lost Rs.19 per person day since 1st April 2009. (Rs.100-Rs81). This is a massive loss for the State and for NREGS workers.

Till date the number of person days generated in West Bengal from 1st April 2009 has been 770.16 lakh person days. So West Bengal has failed to claim Rs.14633.04 lakhs (Rs.19 X 770.16 ).

Also so far 29800.35 households have been provided with this work. So each household has lost Rs.491 ( Rs.14633.04 lakhs divided by 29800.35).

In December, a further loss of about Rs. 494 can be expected by each household that works this month. i.e Rs.19 per day for 26 working days.

The Government seems to feel that it is difficult administratively to give arrears. They may also fear that it will lead to corruption and misappropriation. We would like to know if any administrative problem ever stands in the way of paying arrears to Government employees. We would also like to know if the non payment of arrears to poor agricultural workers who are NREGS workers will mean a stop to corruption. We say these are only excuses and we demand instead that the State Government should arrange for payment of arrears.

While on the one hand the Left Front constituent parties are making a big noise all over the country about the exorbitant price rise and its impact on the common man, on the other hand the West Bengal Left Front Government has once again shown that it is least concerned about the plight of agricultural workers. It should be noted here that the Tripura Left Front Government, controlled by the same parties, has revised NREGS wages with effect from 1st April 2009.

On behalf of PBKMS, Swapan Ganguly

Give us Food or Give us Jail

Kolkata, 17 August 2009: Two and a half months after Cyclone Aila, villagers in the Sunderbans are still struggling to get their lives back together. The district administration has taken little or no action to help the affected people. In order to wake the district administration from its state of slumber on 17th of August, 2009, 315 members of Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS) and Shramajibi Mahila Samity (SMS), from villages destroyed by Cyclone Aila forcibly entered the District Magistrate’s (DM) office (South 24 Parganas district). They occupied his secretariat and the passages going to his office. For three hours, the DM office was filled with the clanging of empty metal plates, slogans and songs.

The central slogan was GIVE US FOOD OR JAIL US. Specifically, PBKMS and SMS demanded the following:-

  • Immediate enquiry into complaints of illegal sale of food grains meant for free distribution in Kakdwip block;
  • 4505 applicants have demanded food from the Government, but everyone remains hungry, hence PBKMS demands immediate distribution of free food grains of 12 kgs per head to all Aila affected persons as per West Bengal Relief Manual norms ;
  • The Government list for distribution of house building relief of Rs.10000 for fully damaged houses and Rs.2500 for partly damaged houses has been prepared in great secrecy. PBKMS demands immediate public display of these lists, and immediate enquiry into 853 complaints that have already been made by PBKMS and any further complaints;
  • Applicants for work under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) are being turned away. In just one block, there are more than 1200 such applicants from PBKMS. Hence PBKMS demands opening of works and immediate payment of wages.
  • The State minimum wage is Rs.87.50, but workers on Irrigation Department embankment repair works are getting only Rs.60-70.

In response to our demands the DM has taken the following actions.

  • The DM directed the SDO, Kakdwip to enquire into the illegal sale of relief rice grains in the area and to report on the matter within 3 days;
  • The DM issued orders to all BDOs and Panchayat Samity Sabhapatis stating that all applicants must be given 12 kgs per adult and 6 kgs per child within 1 week of application, and for this further allotments were being made available from the district;
  • The beneficiary list for damaged houses must immediately be displayed for 3 days at all Gram Panchayat offices. All complaints regarding the lists and the distribution for damages must be heard in presence of complainant and be disposed off within 7 days. The DM also immediately handed over a soft copy of the list to PBKMS.
  • The DM advised the BDOs to take action under section 25 of NREGA with a fine of Rs. 1000 against any person violating NREGA norms.
  • Complaint registers have to be opened at all levels to deal with complaints on NREGA and food distribution.
  • The DM also wrote to the Irrigation Department to pay minimum wages according to the Minimum Wage Act.

From previous experience PBKMS knows that these are easy things to put down on paper but are seldom promises that are fulfilled. PBKMS therefore intends to carry on its movement and play watch dog role on the ground. As a first step, the DM has assured that a review meeting will be held within 10 days and PBKMS has also asked the elected Zilla Parishad Sabhadipati to meet their representatives on these demands within this week.

On Behalf of PBKMS and SMS, Anuradha Talwar

Public Hearing on NREGA and Rural Work

1 November 2006: The PBKMS organised a Public Hearing on NREGA in Kolkata on 31 October 2006 that was attended by activists and rural workers from 8 districts of WB that revealed gross violations of the act in all these districts. On 18 June 2007 about one thousand activists took part in an indefinite “Gana dharna” organised in front of the S.D.O office in Kakdwip demanding unemployment allowance, immediate payment of due wages, compensation for delay in the payment of pending wages along with other demands under the NREGA. The next day, the District Magistrate & the District Programme Coordinator, South 24 Parganas gave written assurance to fulfil their demands immediately. A Writ was filed in the High Court in December 2008 for unemployment allowance, compensation for late payment of wages and employment for women has not progressed. However, with struggle outside of court, unemployment allowance has been paid for 28 workers in Purba Midnapore and compensation for about 50 workers in Purulia has been sanctioned. In South 24 Parganas, after a long drawn struggle, workers got work for 30-40 days, but wages of Rs.1.30 crores remained due to more than 5000 workers. After much conflict, by last week of June, all this has been cleared.

On Behalf of PBKMS, Anuradha Talwar

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