The Union Ministry of Rural Development has directed the State Government to stop all the ongoing desilting works of minor irrigation tanks taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as they were not productive.
The State should conduct proper audit/inquiry of all desilting works of MI tanks taken up under the scheme and submit an action taken report to the Central Government.
The development followed an inspection by a Central team comprising project officers Hansal Suthar, Raj Kumar Prasad and Ruchi Sinha in Kamareddy, Nalgonda, Khammam, Jangaon and Hanamkonda districts from June 9 to 12.
The audit/inquiry should cover whether the water holding capacity has increased significantly on account of these works and a certificate in this direction should be obtained from the concerned line department. In addition, it should also comprise information on whether the investment made in the work was useful or not. The team, in its report, said non-permissible work “construction of foodgrain drying platforms” should be stopped immediately and recovery of money of all such works relating to construction of drying yard should be made.
“As per MGNREGS MIS report R6.18, there are a total of 22,613 completed and 17,250 ongoing works of construction of foodgrain drying platform. Hence, the State should ensure recovery of sum of ₹150.10 crore to be made from the concerned PIA under intimation to this Ministry. Disciplinary/legal action to be ensured against the defaulting officials,” the report said.
The report said expenditure booked on non-permissible item tree guards under avenue/roadside plantation should be recovered from the PIA and should be informed to the Union Ministry. The team took strong exception to sub-letting of the works to third party as well as payments made. “This is a clear violation of Mahatma Gandhi NREG Act 2005, in which no contractor shall be assigned for any work under the scheme,” the report said, adding that disciplinary action should be taken on all such officials involved in adopting the contractor system under the scheme and such practice of sub-letting should be stopped with immediate effect.
Recovery and disciplinary or legal action against the officials and other functionaries should be ensured by the State within 30 days from the receipt of the report. The State should ensure recovery and fixing responsibilities of all such officials and set up a system to avoid recurrence of such lapses in future. Senior officials however, remained tight-lipped on the development.
“It is a report. We are giving replies. Nothing can be concluded till our replies are examined. There is nothing more to say at this stage,” was how a senior official reacted when asked about the report.
