Impact: Villagers get their due share

Lucknow: A few days ago CNN-IBN reported how villagers in Sonia Gandhi's constituency were not getting their wages under the food for work programme. And here's the impact. The villagers have finally got their share of grains.

Malti Devi and her family are sitting together to enjoy a full meal after a long time. On the menu is freshly cooked rotis. But the food didn't come easy. The family had worked for months without any return. Last month CNN-IBN had reported on the plight of people living in this village of Mohammadpur in Rai Bareilly. Under the government of India's food for work program the villagers were promised five kilograms of wheat for a day's work but had not been given even a grain. Now smiles are back on their faces.

“Paisa aur anaj mil gaya hai varna idhar udhar se pet paal rahe. (We got the money and food otherwise we have to borrow from here and there.)," says Malti Devi.

Rai Bareilly had once been Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's constituency and is now represented by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. But it continues to be one of the 150 poorest districts of the country. Following the CNN-IBN report, Sonia Gandhi asked the authorities to conduct an inquiry into the irregularities in the food for work program.

The village headman and the project coordinator had blamed the PCF for not releasing the food grains. The PCF now claims wheat will be distributed to all the villages in Rai Bareilly where food for work program is being run.

"Anaj ka vitran ho gaya hai. FCI ke laparwahi se yeh deer hui hai (We have distributed the grains. It was delayed due to FCI’s carelessness.)." PCF Manager Arun Kumar Srivastava says.

The food for work program is now merged with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The aim of the new scheme is to generate rural employment and subsequently remove rural poverty and discourage migration from the villages. The success of this scheme will depend on how the scheme is actually implemented on the ground.

With inputs from Sarvesh and Keerthana Nagaraj

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