Ranchi, Nov. 27: The Centre-sponsored National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has failed to bear fruit in the state. But the question is who is responsible for the failure?

While some officials blame the rebels for the project failing to bear fruit, others claims that rampant corruption has led to the downfall. The Telegraph had on November 23 reported that the absence of the panchayati raj system and “weak governance” in Jharkhand are leading to the downfall of the programme.

Whatever be the reason, the fact remains that the state government has spent for the scheme Rs 240 crore in the first eight months of the present fiscal, whereas the Centre had allotted Rs 1,500 crore to the state. Officials are sceptical if the state can effectively utilise the remaining Rs 1,260 crore.

According to the scheme, one adult member of every rural family in the BPL category would be given employment for at least 100 days a year and the beneficiary is entitled to Rs 50 per day. Except for East Singhbhum and Bokaro, the Union rural development department has covered all other districts in the state.

The principal secretary of the rural development department, Ashok Kumar Singh, blamed the respective district administrations for the poor implementation of the project. He conceded that his department has received several complains of officials, who execute the project, demanding bribes and commissions from the beneficiaries. “The commission ranges from 15 to 20 per cent of the remuneration the beneficiary is entitled to receive under the scheme. As a result, people in several blocks in the 20 districts are not coming forward to utilise the scheme,” added an official.

The deputy commissioners concerned, however, blamed the rebels for the failure of the project. “The Naxalites are offering a better deal. They offer the villagers not less than Rs 1,500 a month to work for them. Why then would the illiterate villagers want to work under the government scheme?” asked a deputy commissioner requesting that his name be withheld.

Although rural development department principal secretary Singh admitted that the Naxalite-affected districts, such as Hazaribagh and Koderma, are the “worst performers” under this scheme, he refused to admit that the rebels were the reason for the fruitlessness of the scheme.

“It is not true that the villagers are keen to work for the Naxalites. The district administrations will have to work harder for the scheme to succeed,” Singh said.