Central team takes up MGNREGA assessment across TN, finds irregularities in few projects
Officials say that this is a routine exercise taken by the Centre to deploy teams comprising officials to evaluate schemes sponsored by the Centre with field-level inspections.
CHENNAI: The Union Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has constituted a team to launch field inspections across the state to assess the quality and quantity of work undertaken per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Officials say that this is a routine exercise taken by the Centre to deploy teams comprising officials to evaluate schemes sponsored by the Centre with field-level inspections.
For Tamil Nadu, a top-performing state, a team headed by the deputy secretary of the Panchayati Raj ministry, Ashish Gupta, has been assigned to carry out the inspection this year. The team began its exercise a few days ago and will continue until April 20, covering at least 10 districts. The Centre has also deployed a similar team to Kerala.
The objective of the field-level inspection is to take corrective measures and ensure that the workers have been implemented as per the provisions of the MGNREG Act that guarantees 100 days of work to unskilled labourers from rural households.
It may be recalled that the TN government has achieved 29.93 crore person-days till March 12 this year and provided employment to over 73 lakh workers under the scheme.
Based on the findings of their inspections, the team will prepare a report and submit it to their superiors. "The report will highlight shortcomings, violations, and irregularities. Following this, the concerned authorities will initiate enquiries and implement corrective measures to ensure the effective execution of the scheme," said an official from the department.
Sources have also indicated that the central team identified irregularities in works undertaken in the Urappanur panchayat in Madurai. MGNREGA workers have raised concerns that machinery is being used in contravention of the rules, thereby denying them employment opportunities.
The team also found that the citizen information boards, meant to display details such as sanctioned amounts, nature of works, and duration, were missing in certain areas.
"Once we receive the report from the Central team, they will look into the issues and also take corrective measures to iron out the flaws to improve the quality of the work," the official added.
