Bhubaneswar: Though NREGS was successful in
limiting distress migration in some pockets of the country,
its potential had been "partially fulfilled", chief justice of
India Justice K G Balakrishnan said on Saturday.
Inaugurating a seminar on the role of Panchayati Raj
Institutions in the consumer movement and implementation of
the NREGS here, the chief justice said that there were several
favourable reports about the success of the scheme while
systemetic problems needed to be addressed.
"Persistent efforts of the implementing agencies,
civil society institutions as well as the legal system can
bring absolute success to the scheme", he said.
Pointing out that the primary problem was that of
corruption and lack of transparency in the maintenance of
muster rolls and records of the wage payment, Justice
Balakrishnan said that "unholy nexus" between local
contractors and government officials had further complicated
social realities such as exploitation of illiterate workers.
Scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women were
vulnerable to exploitation, he said.
It was important for individuals to be aware of their
entitlments under the scheme and also collectively participate
in the social-audit, the Chief Justice said.
Stressing on social-audit, he said that this was
not only a method to gauge the effective implementation of the
NREGS in a specific area, but also the working conditions and
the nature of prjects to be undertaken in future.
In this regard, the CJ said that the Panchayati Raj
Institutions (PRIs) could aid the legal service authorities by
organising such social audit through public hearing involving
all the residents of a concerned village.
He too suggested the PRIs to function in a trasnparent
manner while being accountable to different sections of
society.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik informed that the state
government was in the process of creating a panel of Village
Committee Leaders who would be trained to handle measurement
and project management and facilitate implementation of
workers.
Social audit of all the works through third party
institutions like reputed NGOs has been initiated, he said
adding that SANJOG Help Line for redressing the grievances of
job seekers was being given serious attention.
"We are also in the process of engaging one Ombudsman
in each district to listen to the grievances of job seekers
and redress them effectively", Patnaik said.
Acting Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Justice I M
Quddusi said legal literacy, awareness and publicity campaign
were high in the agenda of the Legal Service Authorities.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, October 31, 2009, 23:53