Posted on 22 November 2011
CURRENT AFFAIRS
NREGA FUNDS
After war of words with Mayawati, Ramesh releases funds
Funds released based on a written undertaking from UP govt to submit
Action Taken Reports on pending complaints
Samarth Saran
New Delhi
The Union Rural Development Ministry on Tuesday released the third
installment of Rs 1,200 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MG-NREGA) to the poll-bound state of Uttar
Pradesh for the year 2011/12.
Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has also written a
letter to UP Rural Development Minister Daddu Prasad stating that the
money is being sanctioned despite "numerous instances of grave
financial irregularities that have been documented in reports of
independent National Level Monitors (NLMs) and State Quality Monitors
(SQMs)".
Ramesh, in fact, in one of his letters addressed to UP Chief Minister
Mayawati had written that he had the option of stopping the flow of
funds to the state either wholly or partially until proper action was
taken by the state government on reports by the NLMs and SQMs.
In the letter addressed to Prasad, Ramesh said that "the Union
Ministry is acutely conscious that the people of the state should not
be penalised for the failure of the state government to take credible
action against those held responsible for financial irregularities".
In 2010/11, the ministry released Rs 5,267 crore to the state with Rs
1,882 not being utilised by the Mayawati government. This year, the
central government released Rs 1,000 crore in May and another Rs 1,349
crore on 4 July. Ramesh has stressed that the ministry has already
granted more funds for MG-NREGA in UP in just eight months of the
current financial year compared to the funds released last year.
Ramesh, in his letter to Prasad, wrote that the ad hoc release was
based on a written undertaking from the state government to submit
Action Taken Reports on all pending complaints and mentioning specific
and tangible action taken against persons responsible. The letter
states that the state government has to provide complaint-wise, final
outcome in each inquiry/proceeding and FIR by 10 December, and further
funds would be released after reviewing the action taken on pending
complaints.
Ramesh had written two letters to Mayawati alleging gross corruption
in implementation of MG-NREGA and demanding a CBI probe. He had
accused Mayawati of protecting the corrupt and listed the names of
officers who were "involved in the scam". Mayawati in her response had
written a letter to the Prime Minister alleging Ramesh's letter was
politically motivated.
Samarth Saran is a Correspondent with Tehelka.
samarth@tehelka.com
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