Committees on guarantees blur line between politics & administration

The ongoing state legislature session is witnessing a heated debate over the committees of Congress workers formed by the state government to ensure the implementation of its flagship guarantee programmes.

- RAMU PATIL Assistant Resident Editor

Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) legislators took it up in the Assembly and Council and also sought the Governor's intervention to abolish them. The government, meanwhile, stuck to its guns.

The committees at the state, district, and Assembly constituency levels were formed a year ago by drafting over 3,000 Congress workers into the administrative system. District and taluk committee heads are paid Rs 40,000 and Rs 25,000 monthly honorariums, respectively. District committee members get a sitting fee of Rs 1,200 per meeting, while it is Rs 1,000 for 14 members at each of the 224 Assembly segments.

That effectively means the government pays several crores to Congress workers every year to ensure the implementation of schemes that are done through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)—financial assistance to women heads of households or unemployed graduates. Other guarantee schemes, free electricity of up to 200 units, free bus rides for women, and additional rice of 5 kg, are incorporated into the existing mechanism.