TURA, JULY 10: A village headman) from South West Garo Hills has come under scanner for issuing character certificates to a migrant smuggler. In a certificate issued to Billal Sheik, the village headman of Chugrakandi, near Mahendraganj declared that Sheik is a migrant, who is temporarily residing at Majherchar – II village and is by profession a ganja (marijuana) smuggler.
On June 25, the village headman Md Abdus Sattar had issued the certificate to Sheik, who is also known as “Bilal Miah”. The headman action has irked the villagers of Ghugrakandi, Kulupara and Barmanpara. The villagers have written to Garo Hills Autonomous District Council seeking his removal as “gaon bura”.
In a letter to the executive member of land and revenue district council, the villagers alleged that the headman is selfish, arbitrary and dictatorial toward the people and is not fit to hold the post of village headman.
The villagers also claimed that relief materials meant for last year’s flood victims were misused and distributed to them in lesser quantity. “The left over amount of rice, dal and cooking oil were distributed among the committee members”, the villagers claimed.
According to the villagers there arose a discrepancy due to a spelling error in name of one of the beneficiaries during the distribution of relief materials who was asked by the district administrator to produce a Gaon Bura Certificate. However, when the aggrieved person, Billal Sheik approached the concerned for the same the Gaon Bura issued the certificate describing the applicant’s profession as a ‘Ganja Smuggler’ merely out of spite.
“The very act of issuing such certificate to an innocent and illiterate villager clearly shows that he is unreliable and unfit for the position. We want him removed as he does not care for the welfare of the villagers,” the villagers demanded.
The villagers further alleged that many deserving candidates had been deprived of their appointment as teachers in Primary, Upper Primary and the Majherchar Secondary School as many of those appointed in their places were the Gaon Bura’s relatives and well wishers.
According to them the Gaon Bura is also demanding commission for each and every withdrawal made by various village employment council (VEC) secretaries for any work or scheme under MG-NREGS.- From Our Correspondent
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