New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) Only Rs.7 crore has been siphoned off from a flagship rural jobs scheme, the government informed parliament Tuesday, denying that 40 percent of its outlay had found its way into the wrong hands.
“One thousand and ten complaints had been received about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Four hundred and eighty-one cases have been disposed and 529 are pending. In seven cases, Rs.7 crore was found to have been siphoned off,” Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha.

A whopping Rs.40,000 crore has been allocated for the scheme during fiscal 2009-10.

Posing a supplementary, Rajeev Shukla of the Congress said: “There are reports that 40 percent of the funds have been siphoned off. There should be a central monitoring agency for the scheme.

“It is not true that 40 percent of the funds have disappeared. The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) and the state governments have been asked to look into the matter,” Joshi replied.

Replying to a supplementary from K. Malaisamy (AIADMK) on whether there would be a fair enquiry into the missing funds, Joshi replied: “We have asked the states to appoint an ombudsman in every district (to monitor the flow of NREGS funds).”

In July, Joshi had admitted to huge slippages in the scheme’s implementation with an average of just 48 days of work generated for each beneficiary against the promised 100.

“The average (of 100 days work for each rural family) has not been achieved,” Joshi admitted in the Rajya Sabha July 7 while replying to a question on the functioning of the NREGS, adding that the onus for its implementation lay with the states.

“The state governments are not successful and so the people are getting agitated. The state governments are lax,” he said.

“During 2006-07, an average of 43 days of work could be generated, in 2007-09 it was 42 days of work and in 2008-09, it was 48 days of work,” the minister added.