State governments are required to pay more attention to the disposal of complaints, execution of works and carrying out of social audit under NREGA, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
“There are no pre-determined targets under NREGA because it is demand based. Employment is provided to a job card holding household when it demands work. Demand for work varies from state to state and also from district to district within states.
“However, states need to pay more attention to disposal of complaints, execution of works, audit and timely reporting,” Rural Development Minister C P Joshi said in written reply to a question in the Lower House.
He was asked whether certain state governments have been lagging behind in the implementation of schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
Corrective measures
To a question about the corrective measures taken by the government for smooth implementation of the scheme, Joshi informed the House that permissible administrative expenditure limit has been enhanced from four to six per cent for deployment of dedicated staff for NREGA, strengthening of management and administrative support structures for social audit and grievance redressal.
Payment through institutional accounts of NREGA workers has been made mandatory to infuse transparency in wage disbursement, Joshi said.
Instructions have been issued to all the state governments for appointing ombudsmen at district level for grievance redressal in a time bound manner, he added.
