Economist Jean Dreze (extreme right), Ritika Khera (second from right) along with other team members in Sule village of Khunti district on Tuesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Khunti, May 5: Har haath ko kaam do. With this catchy slogan, the Khunti district administration has embarked on an ambitious mission to set right the wrongs that have plagued the UPA government’s flagship rural job scheme in Jharkhand.

Aided by a team of economists led by Jean Dreze, the national council member of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the district administration is holding an NREGS Majdoor Mela to resolve payment issues and other bottlenecks that have dogged the scheme’s implementation in the state.

Begun on Labour Day, the mela will go on for six weeks till June 12. And the idea, just as the slogan says, was to ensure “work for all”.

“We have begun the exercise to improve our performance on NREGS,” Puja Singhal Purwar, deputy commissioner of Khunti district, told The Telegraph, admitting that Jharkhand had one of the worst records in implementing the job scheme.

Purwar means business. She and her officers were now meeting villagers face-to-face to understand their problems better. In the last five days, they have covered more than 10 villages in Khunti block.

Jharkhand, she said, had spent only Rs 4 crore of the Rs 30 crore allotted.

Besides, several workers in the villages were yet to receive payment for work done weeks earlier.

Complementing the district administration’s work, were Dreze and his team, travelling to villages in bicycles and motorbikes.

“The delay in wage payment is a problem in most of the villages. But, villagers now are more aware about the scheme,” he said.

Along with Ritika Khera and other team members, they were at the remote Sule village under Shiladon panchayat in Khunti block, about 30km from the district headquarters. They plan to visit all villages in Murhu and Khunti district, before moving on to Angara block of Ranchi district.

About 5km away was Irud village where the muster rolls were surprisingly error free. “Unlike other villages in Jharkhand, the muster roll of Irud village is fully correct. It is an example for other villages to follow,” said Dreze, who along with Purwar, had visited the area on May 1.

But allotment of work was irregular. “All these years, we got only one project — construction of a 2km village road for approximately Rs 6.6 lakh,” complained Leela Devi, the leader of the village Lavuk Samiti or beneficiary group.

Dreze believed his team’s work would help the district administration do better on NREGS this year.

“At several places, the district administration has little record of the work it has conducted, due to which wage payment is delayed. This has led to some disillusionment among villagers about the job scheme,” Dreze noted.

Purwar, too, was happy about Dreze’s involvement. “I have divided all the 85 panchayats among 18 district-level senior officers, who have been directed to visit villages, get the work measured to ensure quick payment of wages,” she said.

The Khunti deputy commissioner said she had also engaged six assistant engineers and 22 junior engineers of the irrigation department on NREGS monitoring work as “they had little else to do”.