A survey on fresh breaches on embankments in North 24-Parganas recently repaired under the 100 days’ job scheme has prised open an old debate over the quality of assets created under the scheme.
A source in the irrigation department said that Amphan caused 550-odd breaches and damages on river embankments in North 24-Parganas following which the irrigation department carried out repairs in 194 places and the panchayat department fixed the problems in 356 places under the 100 days’ job scheme.
“But in August, we learnt about 30 fresh breaches on the embankments repaired recently. All the fresh breaches were on the embankments that had been repaired by the panchayat department,” said a senior government official.
This finding triggered a debate with a section of irrigation department officers asking if the panchayat department’s decision to get the Amphan damage repaired by employing semi-skilled or low-skilled workers under the 100 days' jobs scheme was right.
A senior state government officer said that while questions raised by the irrigation department were valid, the panchayat department’s decision of employing people for embankment repair under the 100 day's job scheme could not be contested at a time lakhs of migrant labourers had returned to the state in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown and were looking for jobs.
Now that the breaches have been noticed, the government has to take a call on how to fix these, a source said.
“Will we again take the panchayat department route or hand over (the job) to the irrigation department, which possesses the technical know-how of embankment repair?” asked the officer.
According to him, the government needs to take a call after proper deliberation as the expenses under the 100 days’ jobs scheme are already under the Centre’s scanner.
“The Centre has expressed doubts about expenses under the 100 days’ jobs scheme in Bengal and that’s why has sent teams to audit expenditures incurred in the last few months... The state government has called it a political move to malign the state, but embankment breaches reveal there is a problem in planning,” said an official.
The repeat-repair decision will have political repercussions, said sources.
Bengal’s ruling party Trinamul is already smarting in areas where embankments were breached as villagers have started alleging that panchayats did not do repairs properly and there was gross misappropriation of funds. As almost all the gram panchayats in the affected areas are run by the ruling party, this may not bode well ahead of Assembly polls, particularly after allegations of irregularities in distribution of Amphan relief, sources said.
The ruling party, sources said, is facing questions in South 24-Parganas also, as some embankments repaired by the panchayat department had developed fresh breaches leaving several villages inundated in August.
The best strategy for the time being, a source said, was to allow the irrigation department to repair the embankments and order a detailed survey of the work carried out by the panchayat department.
“If it is established beyond doubt that the deployment of unskilled workers was the reason behind fresh breaches, the government should take an in-principle call, that projects that require technical know-how would not be brought under the 100 days’ job scheme or even if they are (brought under the 100 days’ job scheme), the task should be carried out under strict monitoring,” said the officer.