Life of pedestrians, MGNREGS workers under risk

KOZHIKODE: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the employment scheme that  provides 100 days of guaranteed wage employment, has turned to be a life threat scheme for workers in Nadapuram, Valayam and Kuttiadi areas. In some recent incidents, labourers, mainly women engaged in clearing the bushes in compounds and roadsides, spotted highly explosive bombs. Sources said an accidental contact with these explosives by the workers would have led to bursting of these bombs and there by loss of lives. In most cases, explosives were kept in plastic bags or buckets in the bushes.  On last Sunday, a group of women clearing the compound near Vattakandipara in Kuttiadi police station limits spotted explosives dumped in the bushes. Chekyad in Nadapuram and Varikoli and Valayam areas also witnessed similar incidents. Later, bomb detection squad defused the bombs. According to sources, highly explosive bombs which can cause immense damage to lives and property had also been found in the bushes.Recovering of steel bombs and country bombs in Nadapuram, Valayam and Vadakara areas, which witness political clashes often, is not news now. According to police, Nadapuram police have registered nine bomb cases under the Explosive Substances Act, and recovered around 50 steel and country bombs from the police station limits last month. In Valayam and Kuttiadi police stations also, five cases have been registered under this section.“An average of two bombs were found per day in last month at Nadapuram area, said Kozhikode Rural SP T K Rajmohan. We had set up a special squad to investigate bomb making and no complaints from workers under MGNREGS has been received yet,” he added.“The workers under the Employment Guarantee Scheme and the cleaning staff of the panchayat are facing this menace as bombs are kept hidden in uninhabited areas and bushes. But the bombs which are being recovered now are those which had been dumped earlier,” said Nadapuram Panchayat President Soopi Narikkatteri. On Thursday, police recovered a steel bomb from Elayidam near Nadapuram. A pedestrian spotted the bomb in the bushes near road side.