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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | In Orissa’s poorest villages, questions over money spent on ‘jobs never given’ by Debabrata Mohanty

In Orissa’s poorest villages, questions over money spent on ‘jobs never given’ by Debabrata Mohanty

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published Published on Dec 27, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 27, 2010

Last fortnight, the Supreme Court agreed allegations of misappropriation of NREGS funds in Orissa are not without basis. Debabrata Mohanty tracks the scheme and the controversy it is in:

FACT HUNT

In May-June 2007, the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) surveyed how an MGNREGS programme was being carried out in the 100 poorest villages of Orissa’s “hunger bowl” of KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) districts, as well as the districts of Nuapada, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. The Delhi-based NGO alleged that it had found “massive loot”, saying the survey could not find a single case with correct job-card entries that matched the actual number of workdays.

The survey alleged that eight IAS officers including then Panchayati Raj secretary (now retired) Rabindra Nath Dash, then director Panchayati Raj(special projects) Saswat Mishra, and six district collectors were responsible for misappropriation of funds.

OVER TO COURT

The NGO filed a civil writ petition against the Centre and others, naming the Orissa government as a party.

BEYOND BORDERS

Though the initial petition was on Orissa, the NGO then conducted similar surveys in Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand region, where it found more irregularities. It added the results of the subsequent surveys to the main petition, widening its scope. The Supreme Court said, “Let’s fix Orissa so that it can be an example for other states.”

RESPONSE

Orissa: Filed two affidavits, (10 July 2009 and 29 April 2010), saying the schemes are being appropriately implemented. It admitted that for 2006-07 it was allocated Rs 890 crore but spent only Rs 733 crore. It objected to the scheme’s operational guidelines saying the state has no scope to innovate and improve upon the implementation apparatus.

Centre: Filed 3 affidavits. It said it had notified the wage rate for various states, now revised to Rs 100 for states that had approached the Ministry of Rural Development. It said amendments had already been made to Schedule I to the concerned Act with regard to social audit to strengthen transparency and accountability.

FOLLOW-UP

The Rural Development Ministry took up the matter with the Orissa Chief Secretary, to set up a fact-finding committee. The director general, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, was to evaluate implementation. Orissa had a social audit done by the institute in four phases (February-June 2008) in 40 sample gram panchayats of 19 districts. The survey found people becoming more aware of NREGS, but backed up what the CEFS had found. Maoist-affected Malkangiri and the KBK districts were the worst performers.

Despite the report, the state took no action against any of its officials. Rabindra Nath Dash, then Panchayati Raj secretary, wrote to district collectors that “the social audit report(NIRD report) per se cannot be the basis of initiating criminal action against erring officials and PRI representatives.”

The Supreme Court said that from the affidavits it is not clear if even a single officer/official, till today, has been found guilty of contravening the provisions of the Act or causing impediments in effective implementation of the rural employment scheme.

WHAT NOW?

The interim order passed by the apex court this month was for Orissa in particular. The court observed that the allegations of the CEFS are not without basis. Inquiries initiated years ago have not culminated in any final orders, it observed; this clearly shows default on the part of the Union of India as well as the states in discharging their statutory obligations under the provisions of the Act. One such obligation (right to livelihood) is being frustrated by the very functionaries who are responsible for proper and effective implementation of the Act, the Supreme Court observed.

The court has now asked the state and the Centre to submit a compliance report in three weeks indicating how the money allocated to them between 2006 and 2010 under the NREGS Act had been spent.


The Indian Express, 27 December, 2010, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-orissas-poorest-villages-questions-over-money-spent-on-jobs-never-given/729649/0


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