Magsaysay winner Sandeep Pandey returns Govt award

Lucknow : Human rights activist Sandeep Pandey returned a Government award and Rs 44,000 to protest the alleged beating of poor labourers and siphoning of Panchayat fund in a district of Uttar Pradesh in 2009.

In a protest letter to Union Minister for Rural Development Vilasrao Deshmukh on Wednesday, Pandey stated that he was returning the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) achievement award along with the cash award of Rs. 44,000, which was presented to him in February 2009 by Sonia Gandhi.

Pandey said his act was in protest of the 2009 incident in which dalit workers were beaten up by the husband of a former Panchayat leader in the presence of police when the workers had come to inspect the NREGS documents related to their wages.

The main grievances of the dalit workers was that they had been paid less than what was due to them.

But they were beaten up by a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) office-bearer.

The letter said ” No action (as yet) has been taken yet in the incident involving beating of workers on 14/1/09 by husband of a (former) Gram Pradhan, Ghanshyam, in the presence of police and irregularities in the Panchayat account of Aira Kake Mau, Block Bharawan, Dist. Hardoi, U.P., including withdrawal of Rs. 6,20,000 by Ghanshyam in his name.”