Ranchi, May 21: Belgium-born development economist Jean Dreze, perhaps could not have got a better feedback about the ongoing National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) — a Centre sponsored project — under which villagers have to get 100 days of employment.

A frustrated tribal attending a public hearing candidly asked Dreze the rationale of the scheme. “My slippers have literally worn out frequenting the office to get payment for the work that I have done so far,” he shouted, giving vent to his ire.

Co-author of several books with Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on famine, Dreze was seeking feedback on the progress of the scheme from villagers along with his team members, on the premises of Kanke block office, as part of a social audit organised by NREGA Watch, a platform of some NGOs.

At another venue in Khunti block, the noted social activist and winner of Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership and international understanding, Aruna Roy, was taken aback by a complaint of the villagers who accused the local officials of warning them against speaking anything adverse about not getting paid for the work done.

The villagers told Roy: “You will go back after a couple of days, but we have to interact with them (the local officials).”

A fuming Roy directed the villagers to get in touch with her directly if they found themselves at “the receiving end”. She had a word of caution for the local administration: “Be honest in implementing the scheme and weed out discrepancies in preparing muster rolls for jobs.

She told the NREGA Watch volunteers that she would discuss with the Centre the large-scale discrepancies on implementation of NREGA.

“I suggest the state government do a quick follow-up on the feedback at the social audit, or else the entire exercise will be futile,” said Dreze.

The duo stressed the need for greater transparency and awareness among villagers about NREGA.

The NREGA Watch team would submit to the Ranchi district administration the feedback it got during its four-day social audit in different blocks of Ranchi district.