Now, Bengal stalls social audit of gram panchayats

KOLKATA: The Bengal government has put on hold the mandatory social audit of gram panchayats, pressing the pause button just four days after the panchayats and the rural development department suspended all gram sansad (village parliament) meetings till further orders.
A social audit by the gram sabha is mandated under Section 17 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Beneficiaries of the 100-day work scheme or any villager residing within a gram panchayat area can raise questions about its implementation and ask for the muster rolls to be released for public scrutiny.
The opposition has raised doubts about the motive behind the government’s decision, coming as it does in the wake of the cut-money scandal. Most of the complaints about cut money — elected representatives and political leaders allegedly taking cuts from villagers against delivery of benefits under welfare schemes — centre on the rural job guarantee scheme and the PM Awas Yojana.
On Monday, villagers of Bhadutala in West Midnapore laid siege to the residence of a Trinamool leader demanding refund of “cut money”. Tension also gripped Sarbat in Garbeta, where BJP supporters held a demonstration in front of the panchayat office demanding refund of alleged cut money taken by pradhan Aurobinda Goswami.