In a review of three districts — Unnao, Lucknow and Barabanki — conducted by the Department of Rural Development, it was found that of 23,769 job card holders who had applied for bank accounts, only 8,221 have been able to get bank accounts.

Since September 2008, over Rs 11 lakh is pending as payment against work done in these districts, with “no bank account of job card holder” being cited as a common reason for non-payment. The report also suggested that almost 73 per cent of the villagers have pending payments of over Rs 6,000 per person.

The Rural Development department has now asked the District Rural Development Offices (DRDO) to ensure that all bank accounts are opened by March 31. They have also been asked to ensure that the accounts are opened in banks near the villages and the money is deposited immediately.

Interestingly, the job card holders had filled up forms for “bank account assistance” — a scheme where the block development officer is asked to coordinate with banks to open accounts of card holders for a particular block.

August 2008 onwards, it was mandatory to have a bank account to receive NREGS payments. Owing to this, the banks are either holding camps for opening accounts or the block development office sends forms of all card holders of one block to the banks in bulk.

“We have been repeatedly asking the districts to ensure that each and every job card holder has a bank account,” said Anurag Yadav, Additional Commissioner (Rural Development).

“The review, however, had a different story to tell. We have found that barely 40 per cent of the accounts have been opened so far.”

Yadav said the department is keeping a strict vigil to ensure that no payment remains pending.