The State Rural Employment Society – District Implementing Division (SRES-DID), a nodal agency for the implementation of MGNREGA and other central government schemes, has directed officials in Demdema, West Garo Hills, to submit a report regarding allegations that two senior members of a Village Employment Council (VEC) utilised the rural work scheme for their own private benefit instead of on projects that will benefit the community.
The May 1 order by the SRES-DID to the Block Development Officer and MGNREGA Programme Officer of Demdema gave five days for the report to be submitted into the complaint against Moulakandi VEC secretary Moklesha Bibi and president Zannatun Khatun.
The complaint was filed by Surat Zamal, a job card holder under the Moulakandi VEC.
In the complaint, dated April 21, 2025, to the Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills, Zamal claimed that most of the work under MGNREGA under Moulakandi VEC for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24 had been initiated and executed “without the knowledge of the public and are done in their (president’s and secretary’s) own residential area which is not for the interest of the public but for their own interest.”
As examples, Zamal stated that one project for construction of a retaining wall was on the personal homestead belonging to the VEC president. Another project for retaining wall construction and community land development work was actually on the VEC secretary’s own residential compound, he added.
