‘MGNREGS wages stolen’

Imphal: Wages of more than 50 job card holders of Changamdabi Gram Panchayat till date has been allegedly withdrawn from bank without knowing the job card holders under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS).

The allegation was raised by Md Imran Shah who is the public relation officer of MLA Th. ShyamKumar.

Imran was speaking to reporters in front of Manipur State Cooperative Bank, Porompat branch, Imphal East located near Porompat Police Station on Wednesday.

With direct transfer benefits the wages of job card holders under MGNREG Scheme are transferred to bank accounts of respective job card holders. Most of the bank account of job card holders of Changamdabi Gram Panchayat are opened at MSCB, Porompat branch. When the job card holders went to withdraw their wages to the bank the wages amount were found withdrawn, he said.

Imran said the wages are to be withdrawn after submitting Know Your Customer (KYC) to the bank and before the submission of KYC even an account holder are not allowed to get account statement for their respective bank accounts. When the job card holders enquired the officials of the bank they were told to submit an application regarding the issue. After they submit the application the officials play delaying tactics, he alleged.

The banking officials were not properly cooperating the job card holders, he added.

He said till Tuesday wages of around 50 job card holders had been withdrawn without the consent of the account holders.

He appealed the authority concerned to find out who are involved in this issue and to take necessary action against them.

There are more than 1,000 job card holders in Changamdabi Gram Panchayat area, Imran said.

He said he was told by the officials of the bank that a total of around Rs 2 crore has been transferred to the bank accounts of respective job card holders.