Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has asserted that the Union government would initiate action against States where there is deliberate “misappropriation/embezzlement” of funds earmarked for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
The Minister expressed concern over the “disappointing nature” of implementation of MGNREGS in Maharashtra and said he had addressed a letter to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan in this regard.
Mr. Ramesh was here on Saturday to participate in the International Conference on Paralegal Models to Resolve Land Problems of the Poor and Tribals in India.
He dismissed charges that his recent letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, asking why a CBI probe could not be ordered into the reported irregularities in the implementation of the UPA government's flagship programme, was politically motivated.
“There is absolutely no politics. There are reports by the monitoring agencies at the national and State levels,” he said. There was no ambiguity on the need for audit of the rural development works by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India as close to Rs. 1 lakh crore was being spent annually. But the audit must include performance evaluation as transparency was essential in the implementation of works, the Minister added.
The department had decided to appoint special authorities in all States to take up performance audit.
Andhra Pradesh, he said, was leading others in the implementation of the MGNREGS and the National Rural Livelihood Mission programmes and other States were learning from the Andhra Pradesh experiences.
