New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) An ombudsman will be appointed to ensure that welfare schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme are implemented properly, Minister of State for Rural Development Agantha Sangma said here.
She said on the sidelines of a function late Thursday that an ombudsman kind of system was being developed to ensure accountability and transparency in government-run welfare schemes.

“We are in the process of developing an ombudsman kind of system in our ministry to ensure accountability and transparency.

“Under this system, we will have an independent person to whom people can come up and report about problems. It is for monitoring implementation of important schemes like NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act),” said Sangma.

Initially the system will start on pilot basis in one scheme of the ministry and will be replicated later in other projects.

The young minister stressed that proper implementation of projects is the main problem in the country and a mechanism has to be developed for fixing accountability.

“We need to gear up whatever mechanism we have. There are monitoring and vigilance committees in every constituency and acts like RTI (Right to Information) to fix accountability. If people don’t take initiative it is not going to work,” she added.