news details |
|
|
| Turning MGNREGA into a major fund siphoning scandal? | | |
Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 28: Union HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal made many important statements during his recent visit to the State, but one that was the most important was generally missed by the media.
While discussing the implementation of various Centrally funded national programmes in the State, the HRD Minister was highly critical of the State for what he called mismanagement, default and misappropriation of funds earmarked for some of the flagship national programmes. It is common knowledge that crores of funds are spent daily in the State on various Centrally funded and sponsored schemes like the MGNREGA and others.
If we take just MGNREGA and discuss in detail what has been happening to the colossal amounts of money apparently spent to generate rural employment, we would be shocked to discover that the majority of these funds are actually funneled out to the pockets of some of the unscrupulous village Sarpanches, Panches and officials of the Rural Development Department.
The MGNREGA programme was devised apparently with foolproof safeguards as the wages of those engaged under this national programme are deposited directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
But, as has rightly been said there is no man-made system or procedure in the World that man cannot break and hijack. A novel method of swindling funds has been going on across the State in the implementation of this national programme.
In tandem with the wage earners, the village headmen have been making false and fabricated muster sheets showing inflated attendances of the wage earners. Like for example, if a labour has worked on a rural earth evacuation job, or drain making etc for four days, the village Sarpanch in connivance with the labour prepares a fictitious muster sheet showing the labourer's attendance for 10 days. Out of the extra six days so earned by the labourer, the spoils are shared 50-50 by the Sarpanches, Panches, Rural Development officials and the concerned labourer.
The method might apparently look like a petty theft of a few hundred bucks, but when seen in the huge proportions of thousands of labourers engaged under the programme on a daily basis the magnitude of the fraud is stupendous running into multiples of crores.
The Auditor and Comptroller General has recently submitted an audit report in one of the State Assemblies stating clearly that the concerned State has failed in auditing of the funds spent on rural development programmes.
It is feared that once a thorough audit is done by the Comptroller and Auditor Ggeneral in respect of funds utilization and their actually realization in terms of jobs generated on the ground, the State of Jammu and Kashmir might shock many in the country. We already are the second most corrupt State in the country. Given what is happening in the implementation of MGNREGA in the State we have already climbed the ladder to the 'coveted' number one position!!
It might not be pure exaggeration to say that funds worth crores of rupees have been siphoned out of the system and used for personal benefits. After all, the so-called prosperity among some of the unscrupulous village Sarpanches, Panches and officials of the Rural Development Department has not all be that hard- earned, it has come through the loot and plunder that has been going on in the name of MGNREGA and other such noble and well meaning national programmes. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
