Similar are the stories of not only the other three who were killed but also several of those who left for Assam last year. Their relatives show job cards, all of which were issued between March to May last year but were of little use: no work was available under the Central scheme which ensures a minimum of 100 days work in a year.

Local villagers said that under the NREG, only one project has been completed in the panchayat, that of filling soil in the compound of the local school, just over a month ago. “For eight days we got employment. But so far we have been paid only Rs 50 each, the rest of the amount is due”, said Ashok Das. Under the scheme here, a labourer is to be paid Rs 68 for a day’s work.

When contacted, Upendra Thakur, the husband of Mukhiya Sita Devi, denies that the men left the village because of no work under the NREG. “They go to Assam not because there is no work here but for greed of money as they get better wages there”, said Thakur. He, however, admitted that all work under the NREG was taken up only two months ago after the labourers who had been waiting for a job had left the state.

Incidentally, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has written a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on what he has called the “unsatisfactory implementation” of the NREG. The state government so far has also failed to finalise the list of Below Poverty Line families.