The Report - North 24 Parganas

has not yet been received, Sujan states. The costs of labor were Rs. 81 per personand the government has not reimbursed all the labors for their services.“We have grown a lot of vegetation around the pond. Even fruits have beengrown. Whatever we can grow, we try to plant. It is difficult to sell the vegetablesbecause everyone around us like to eat them. We cannot refuse anybody whorequest for them.” Vegetables include cauliflowers, spinach and other kinds ofgreen vegetables like beans and ladiesfingers.After having mortgaged his own land, Sujan is working only on his owner’s landdividing the returns from his produces on a 50-50 basis.Sujan does have a job card. “The panchayat approved my application for pondexcavation and provided me with a job card. The workers working on this projecthave received reimbursements on the job card through the bank. I haven’treceived any money directly as the owner of the land. But I had to bear extracosts for tea and biri requirements for the laborers.”Some of the village people actually work on planning on required projects likeroad building and pond excavation and forwarding the requests to thepanchayat. Sujan is also an integral part of this decision making committee asan old resident in the village. The committee is responsible for the general wellbeing of the people living in the village. “NREGA has been an effectiveinstrument in serving our purpose,” Sujan says.