The Examiner of Local Accounts (ELA), under the office of Principal Accountant General (audit), has highlighted major irregularities in the implementation of National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA) in Bihar.
An audit test check of records of 12 Zilla Parishads, upto March 2007, showed just 58 schemes out of 533 undertaken for execution (10.88 per cent) had been completed within the specified time.
The completion score for 48 Panchayat Samities, test checked, was 37.60 per cent but the record for 194 Gram Panchayats covered was better at 64.08 per cent, the ELA report submitted for the year ended March 31, 2008 says.
As for the irregularities, the report says an inquiry revealed that in five instances in the Chakai Panchayat Samity, two separate estimates were prepared and two separate agencies were allotted the same work for which advances were paid to all concerned.
A separate inquiry, pertaining to earth-filling work under NREGP (scheme 7/06/07) in Barhara Panchayat Samity, had revealed that fake bills had been prepared to attract irregular payment.
A significant portion of Rs 87.07 crore of unsettled advances mentioned in the audit report pertains to NREGP.
Keywords: NREGA, Bihar, corruption, National Rural Employment Gurantee Act, Examiner of Local Accounts
