Forty-eight Village Employment Council (VEC) members were deleted from the rolls in Rongribo Chibolgre, allegedly without due procedure being followed in at least some of the cases.
Dreambirth M Sangma, a resident of the East Garo Hills village, informed today that the 48 had been deleted from the rolls due to several ostensible reasons, such as unwillingness to work, death or having moved location.
Sangma then sought from the officials of Samanda block an explanation of the process of name deletion. According to him, the VEC has to adopt a resolution unanimously for this.
However, when Sangma filed a Right to Information (RTI) inquiry regarding the deletion of the names, which includes his own father and brother, he found that four members had had their names deleted without the resolution.
He then claimed to have been told by VEC members who reportedly signed the resolution that they had been told that the matter was for a tree plantation and they had signed on a black piece of paper as encouraged to do so by the VEC president and secretary.
The reason for a person’s deletion has also changed depending on the time the question is asked. In his first information request, Sangma was told that one Jangman Marak’s name had been removed as he had been unwilling to work. However, at the second time of asking, the answer came back that Marak had no Aadhaar card. Three other such examples were also provided by Sangma.
Sangma claims to have fallen foul of the leaders of Kimenangre VEC after he published accusations about the slow-going of the construction of a culvert over the Rongrong stream. So aggrieved were the villagers that they filed a police case against him. This matter is still pending.
