Excelsior Correspondent
MENDHAR, Nov 12: The payment of wages worth lakhs have been denied to members of labours class in Pathana Teer Panchayat Halqa and adjoining areas of Mendhar in district Poonch for the last nearly three years.
While the staff of the concerned BDO Block claims that funds have not been received, the senior officers in the Rural Development at district headquarters claimed that all the pending payments have been cleared. Panch Abdul Qayoom of the Panchayat Halqa claimed that nearly Rs 2.5 lakh NREGA payments pertaining to works executed by him have been lying pending. He said the poor labours are after him for the last three years but the department staff including Panchayat Secretary, JE Chirag Din and GRS Niaz Ahmed are denying the payments. Even the BDO Tariq Aziz claims that they have not received the funds for the disbursement to the labours. Qayoom claimed that as per his information NREGA payments worth over Rs 27 lakhs are pending in this area and the poor labourers are not being paid their hard earned wages for the works executed by them three years back. Qayoom claimed that even he paid huge commission to the officials concerned which they took in advance but his bills are not being cleared.
ACD Poonch Basharat Ahmed said that NREGA liability has already been cleared by the Government and most of the bills have been cleared. He said that he was not aware of this liability. The ACD denied to release funds for the payments of period 2012-13.
Director, RDD Jammu M L Raina when contacted said that matter has just come to his notice and he will hold detailed inquiry into the matter. He said the Government has cleared the NREGA liability after conducting scrutiny and truth will come to light. Mr Raina said that action will also be taken against those RDD officials who allegedly took huge commission in advance for the works executed in this Panchayat.
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