IMPHAL, April 5: Reacting to a report carried by the IFP on April 4 under the headline “NERCORMP work in Chandel on standstill over NSCN (IM) interference in NGO disqualification,” the Manipur Border Area Development Society has said it strongly “condemned the false allegations levelled by the NERCORMP Chandel project manager Santala E. Ronglo.
A clarification of the MBADS said in regard to NGO disqualification, the MBADS would like to clarify that the reason for disqualification on the ground of inappropriate use of the funds allocated from the projects is baseless and hollow.
It further charged that disqualification of MBADS was done through a premeditated conspiracy hatched by the NERCORMP Chandel Project Manager on certain grounds.
It said as per the objectives of NERCORMP, project implementation should be based on Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Exercise prepared by the concerned NaRM-Gs with PNGOS as per the seasonal calendar suitable to their respective areas whereas the instructions given by the Project Manager is not according to PRA guidelines i.e., the Project Manager issued an order on March 16, 2015 to grow Ash Gourd to the 16 project villages of Chakpikarong Block under MBADS, for the fund under AWPB 2014-15 (1st instalment), in spite of the flexibility of crop plantation given by the visiting officials Director (M&E) and MCO from NERCORMP Head Office, Shillong during their visit at Nungpan Village for PNGOs Assessment in the presence of the NERCORMP Chandel Project Manager.
Although the 16 NaRM-Gs have grown suitable crops in their respective areas, the Project Manager was not willing to accept the cultivated crops saying that seeds of Ash Gourd would be provided by the office, it said. when the Ash Gourd seeds at the rate of Rs. 19,500/- per Kg were made available by her to the 16 NaRM-Gs in the middle of July, 2015 they organized a joint meeting on July 16, 2015 at Ruwngchang village citing high seed rate and delay in seed distribution, for which a minutes had been forwarded to NERCORMP Chandel office through MBADS as requested by the 16 NaRM-Gs, the statement claimed.
Earlier, MBAOS had requested for Provision of Information with regard to the procurement and distribution of seeds for the activities of 16 villages under MBADS during the Phase-l for the year 2014-2015 through a referendum dated July 15, 2015 to inquire the authorized individual/organization, time and place for the procurement and distribution of seeds, allocation of seeds per household and estimated price.
But since no response was made by the NERCORMP CHANDEL office, MBADS again requested the Project Manager to provide at least one of her staffs for distribution of seeds but she did not agree to the request, it said.
The statement also claimed that instead of solving the grievances of poor villagers, the Project Manager threatened the 16 NaRM-Gs and MBADS of termination if they failed to comply with her demands.
From this onwards, MBADS became the main target and victim of the Project Manager for best reasons known to her, it claimed.
In spite of all such threats given by the Project Manager, the 16 NaRM-Gs did not receive the seeds until flexibility of crop plantation was again granted to 16 NaRM-Gs under MBADS by Director (M&E) and Director (Finance) NERCORMP Shillong on the December 15, 2015 at Ruwngchang village, it said.
And now fund for activities under AWPB 2014-15 (1st Instalment) has been implemented successfully in their respective areas. Therefore, anyone can check and verify the project implementation sites under MBADS.
It has further clarified on the issue of discontinuation of partnership with NERCORMP and approval of non-extension of partnership with MBADS.
It further claimed that the reason for NERCORMP work in Chandel to be on standstill, is due to the failure of non-submission of Utilization Certificate (UC) of funds under AWPB 2014-2015 (1st Instalment) because seed procurement is community procurement but the Project Manager procured the seeds by herself through centralized procurement for 6563 HH at the rate of Rs. 2000 is Rs. 1,31,26,000/ excluding MBADS. This resulted in the delay of fund disbursement under AWBP 2015-2016 in Chandel District, it said.
Further, this may also be one of the reasons why she got suspended, it said.