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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | NREGA social audit becoming a political choice

NREGA social audit becoming a political choice

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published Published on Oct 12, 2011   modified Modified on Oct 12, 2011
-The Times of India
 
With the Bhilwara pattern social audit of schemes under the MGNREGA shelved in the state, the alternative method is also coming under political pressure.

A recent application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed letters from a minister and an MLA urging the social audit directorate not to conduct audit of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) schemes in villages falling in their constituencies. The letters have given the pretext that similar audits conducted earlier in these villages have failed to unearth any fraud.

The state had in 2009 introduced a unique system of getting work under MGNREGA schemes audited with help of NGOs, nominated by the state. However, such were the anomalies unearthed in the audit that soon political pressure began mounting on the government for halting such exercises as many sarpanches stood exposed. The final blow came when the Rajasthan High Court halted procedure when hearing a PIL filed in this regard.

The state then introduced a special audit process in which persons nominated by the directorate of social audit were to conduct audits of MGNREGA works. The directorate, instead of randomly choosing panchayats, picked those that were the highest spenders. But now even this method is increasingly coming under political pressure.

Documents furnished by the department of rural development and panchayati raj in reply to an RTI application filed by the RTI Manch here reveals a letter from state education minister Bahnwarlal Meghwal urging the minister Bharat Singh of the rural development department to refrain from a special audit of gram panchayat Bhashina in Sujangarh as earlier audits have failed to unearth any anomalies.

Similar letters have written by Congress MLAs from Sirohi Ganga Ben Garacia and MLA Shaleh Mohammed from Pokhran urging the directorate to refrain from repeated social audits of certain villages as it ascauses harassmenta? to the representatives of the panchayat.

The audit was introduced to bring transparency in work done under MGNREGA but halting the process through such letters is a sheer bid for encouraging fraudulent means. After these letters the directorate of social audit though did not give any written order but has refrained from conducting audits in these villages,a? says Mukesh Goswami of the RTI Manch.

Officials of the department when contacted agreed that the audit process in some of these villages had been halted after the letters from the politicians. But they added that since then notices have been issued for special audits in many of these villages once again and soon MGNREGA work even in those villages for which such orders have not been issued will be audited.

The Times of India, 12 October, 2011 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/NREGA-social-audit-becoming-a-political-choice/articleshow/10321632.cms


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