Social audit, CAG to rein in MNREGA corruption: Ramesh

Union Minister for Rural Development Jai Ram Ramesh today said social audit and CAG audit report would come in handy to maintain better vigil and to rein in corruption in MNREGA and Indira Awas Yojna (IAY). Talking to reporters during a two-day visit to Bihar, Ramesh said the annual expenditure of the union rural development ministry was to the tune of over Rs 88,500 crore and they have decided to involve CAG for proper evaluation of the expenditure. Social audit and audit by CAG will rein in corruption in the flagship programme, he said. [caption id=“attachment_212857” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“PTI”]  [/caption] Referring to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s recent statement, Ramesh said the CM had alleged that the mukhiya and representatives of other panchayati raj institutions were involved in misuse of funds under MNREGA and IAY and were buying luxury vehicles. Stating that Kumar had reiterated it three months back also, Ramesh said, “We felt that the state government should also keep strict vigil to avoid misuse of the funds under MNREGA and IAY”. Describing this as a matter of serious concern, he said MNREGA was a demand-based scheme and the Centre used to provide funds on the basis of the demands of the states. Expressing unhappiness over states like Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha lagging behind in the execution of MNREGA, he said MNREGA was meant for extremely poor states. “It is a matter of serious concern that these states lag behind states like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan in execution of the centrally sponsored schemes,” Ramesh said. Giving the example of Andhra Pradesh, he said had through better placing of demands and proper utilisation of funds, the state has been successful in receiving Rs 8000 crore from the Centre during the past year while Bihar, starving for funds, has hardly been successful to secure Rs 3000 crore under centrally sponsored schemes. On the performance of Bihar on implementation of MNREGA, Ramesh said, “I am not here to give any certificate to anybody”. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattishgarh figures in the priority list of union rural development ministry as these states lack proper infrastructure compared to the states in west and south south India. Ramesh rubbished the allegation that the Centre was discriminating against these states. PTI