If probed "sincerely" the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scam will submerge all previous scams in the state, Sanjay Dixit - a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) has claimed. He said as per his findings, the size of NREGA scam in Uttar Pradesh is worth over Rs. 10,000 crore.
"This includes payment of wages against fake job card holders and fake construction works; creating fictitious purchase invoices, payment to ghost firms against the procurement of various items including hybrid seeds, calendars and publicity material; purchase of instruments used by labourers for construction works and purchase of photo copy machines and computers," he said.
Substantiating his allegation, Dixit said, "The letter of Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh was the last option under Section 27 of the Act which says that the Centre can initiate action if it finds truth in the complaints of fund misappropriation. The state has ignored many previous letters written to the UP chief secretary urging inquiries into the said irregularities. UP has received Rs. 20,000 crore under NREGA in the past four years. But only 40 per cent of the fund has reached the targeted beneficiaries."
Dixit said although Ramesh has sought a CBI probe in only seven districts, he was in favour of expanding the probe to at least 40 more districts. The Union Minister’s demand for CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) audit of MNREGA’s funds can help in better implementation of the social welfare scheme which has miserably failed in the state under Mayawati government.
This article is posted by pressbrief.in
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