After turning heat on the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has brought to the notice of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) instances of various state governments flouting norms of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and
overcharging the Central government to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees.
“Several states have been providing work to households exceeding legal entitlement of 100 days. According to data for 2010-11, Andhra Pradesh appears to have spent about `500 crores on exceeded mandays and booked it as expenditure to be reimbursed by Central government. This could also be true of other states,” Mr Ramesh has written in the letter, a copy of which is with this newspaper.
While the NREGA, which has an annual budget of about `40,000 crores, mandates 40:60 ratio in material and labour for the project cost, Mr Ramesh has enclosed data of two years, which have instances of many states having flouted the norm on a regular basis. Against the norm of 60 per cent expenditure on labour, states such as Andhra Pradesh (86 per cent), Kerala (91 per cent), Maharashtra (84 per cent), Tamil Nadu (100 per cent), Gujarat (73 per cent) have spent much in excess on the wages.
Mr Ramesh has also mentioned several instances where “state governments have grossly misused six per cent administrative over-heads funds (`2,500 crores)” and has noted “this is a huge fund and open to misuse”.
The minister has also brought to the notice of the CAG of state governments manipulating NREGA wage determination. “There is a major deviation being resorted to by most states with regard to quantum of work prescribed to calculate wage rates,” Mr Ramesh has noted, while adding that states are paying full wages despite assigning less tasks for NREGA works compared to their similar schemes, thus causing higher financial outflow from the Central exchequer. Mr Ramesh has also highlighted that several states, especially in the North-east, are continuing to calculate wages under NREGA on time-rate basis instead of piece-rate basis as is mandated under the Act.
Meanwhile, the CBI is likely to initiate preliminary enquiry to probe alleged irregularities in implementation of NREGA in UP.
The department of personnel and training (DoPT) may issue a notification in this regard soon.