Over 4,000 Workers in Bihar March in Protest against Corruption in MNREGA

On December 14, over 4,000 workers gathered at the Jubba Sahni Park in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, in a democratic and peaceful attempt to resist the continued harassment that is being faced by the members of Samaj Parivartan Shakti Sangathan (SPSS), also known as MNREGA Watch. Workers and people from various national campaigns from Bihar and other states expressed solidarity with the workers.

SPSS was formed when Sanjay Sahni, a class 7 drop-out, who was once an electrician in South-West Delhi, decided to expose the corruption in MNREGA works in his Panchayat. Since then, SPSS has become a non-violent people’s movement, with a collective of more than 50,000 workers, consisting mainly of Dalit women, who are fighting for their rights, and against corruption.

Muzaffarpur has seen a distressing downward trend in the implementation of the social security schemes. A shockingly large amount of payments- nearly Rs. 636 crore is pending, which was to be made by the state government towards wage and material costs. In the district, only 94 households have been managed to avail the 100 days of work that they are entitled to.

Members of SPSS have been questioning these issues, and as a result, some of them are facing backlash from the bureaucracy and the local elite through a series of false FIRs. These FIRs are clear attempts at foiling the movement led by SPSS against corruption.

In June, 2017, a detailed fact-finding report on the false FIRs was compiled and presented to the Director General of Police (DGP), Bihar. No action was taken by the administration, and more false FIRs followed. In the latest FIR, dated September 6, 2018, it was claimed that three members of SPSS, Sanjay Sahni, Mandeshri Devi, and Neelam Devi forcefully took away the daughter-in-law of the complainant, to work under MNREGA, and this allegedly led the son of the complainant to commit suicide. However, at the time of the incident, Sahni was in Ranchi. Another letter was submitted to the DGP in September, following the FIR, but yet again, no action was taken.

On December 14, the protest march began at Jubba Sahni Park, and ended at the collectorate. The protestors submitted a letter demanding a fair, transparent, and time bound probe on the allegations made against the members of SPSS, and quashing of all the false charges, to the District Magistrate Mohammad Sohail and the Inspector General Sunil Kumar. The letter also demanded that the demand for work under the MNREGA scheme be met within 15 days, and bi-monthly meetings be organised to address grievances.

At the protest, a letter of solidarity signed by over 100 well-known activists was released. This letter also demanded that the harassment and intimidation of the members of SPSS be stopped immediately, and the false FIRs filed against the members, including Sanjay Sahni, be quashed by the administration.

Read More: Bihar ASHA Workers go on Indefinite Strike Demanding Better Wages and Social Security