CAG finds massive pilferage of funds
If performance report of the comptroller and auditor-general of India (CAG) for the year ended March 2012 is any indicator, the flagship programme of the UPA — the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) — has failed to achieve its target in Assam.
In what was indicator of massive pilferage of fund, the CAG performance report observed, “There were inadequacy on the part of the state government regarding adoption of economy measures in procurement of materials and maintenance of proper accounts.”
It further said, “There were deficiencies in targeted inspection, lack of vigilance, inadequate checking of muster rolls and lack of transparency in maintaining records etc, leading to suspected misappropriation, doubtful expenditure and fraudulent payment aggregating to `3.40 crores detected in audit during the test-check records.”
The performance audit of the scheme for the year 2007-08 to 2011-12, which was tabled in the Assam Assembly on Monday, said that in the last five years 100 days of employment under the MGNREGS could be provided job to only 3.54 lakh workers against the demand of 88.15 lakh households in Assam.
The report observed that this was coupled with non-utilisation of funds optimally, non-transparent process of registration and issue of job cards and non-payment of unemployment allowance, compensation to eligible workers etc under the scheme.
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