The Congress-led UPA government’s most ambitious project – the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) - has degenerated into a mega scam. According to estimates, around Rs 5000 crore has so far been extracted by officials on the pretext of providing employment to the poor.

According to a CAG report, only 3.2 per cent households have been covered under this scheme.

Rural development ministry sources said that complaints were being received frequently and monitors had been appointed to verify these complaints. But even this monitoring system has failed to secure the huge money of the tax-payers from getting diverted into the hands of those involved in the execution of this project.

The situation is at its worst in several states including Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. The CAG has taken up the issue in a few states but the report will be submitted to the rural development ministry itself.

The twin districts of Katihar and Purnea in eastern Bihar are a case in point. Job cards do not reach the hands of those employed by the village heads. District administrations have roped in NGOs with dubious credentials regarding their experience in handling the issue at the grassroot level. Those NGOs having good track records were not even considered for working at the grassroot level.

“Village heads have prepared a long list of unskilled workers seeking one hundred days’ work under this scheme. But the rolls are mostly fake and carry fictitious names. Actually few people really exist to work against this list available with the village pradhan. This helps the pradhan and the block development officer (BDO) to extract huge funds from the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA), the nodal agency at the district level. DRDA officials are the highest beneficiaries of this project,” alleged Dr Chandra Kumar, a local activist who visited around a dozen villages as part of his social audit work.

The rural development ministry has allocated Rs 1111.76 crore for implementation of this scheme in Bihar and Rs 568 crore have already been spent so far. The situation is worse in Orissa where even school children are getting enrolled by village pradhans to display a long list of households involved in securing work for a hundred days.

A Delhi-based NGO – Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) – conducted a study in 100 villages in Orissa and came out with startling revelations. Its survey found that of the Rs 733 crore spent in 2006-07 under NREGS, Rs 500 crore were misappropriated by officials. The officials of the Orissa government claimed that they had provided 57 days work to the household but the survey revealed that only five days of work were made available to the needy people. In several villages, the misappropriation was to the tune of 90 percent.

The CEFS has prepared a list of 5000 villages from 19 NREGS districts where around 95 per cent of the money has already been siphoned off under this scheme. Out of the 100 villages, they detected that 37 villages had not received any work under this scheme while 18 villages had not received even a single job card. In 23 villages, all the job cards were lying with the Village Level Workers (VLWs) and junior engineers much against the wishes of the card -holders. The VLWs kept these cards in their illegal possession for almost eight to twelve months to ensure smooth misappropriation.

In several villages, there was no entry in the cards even after the completion of work and payment given to workers. Hundreds of needy households have not been given these job cards. Then, who are the beneficiaries of this job guarantee scheme?

For the BDOs, muster rolls carrying the names of card holders are a secret document. They deny access to these rolls. The VLWs have to seek the permission of BDOs to display these rolls. In fact, the entire scam begins from the preparation of these rolls and goes up to the highest level for distribution of money under this scheme.

This survey was conducted in six districts of Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabrangpur and Rayagada where it was discovered that a huge amount had been siphoned off by officials. “It is participatory loot of government funds. At least Rs 5000 crore have been siphoned off so far,” said Parshuram Rai of CEFS.

Since there is a well-defined chain of command in executing NREGS, it is reasonable to assume that there is collusion of authorities all through the chain. “I am a member of the vigilance committee in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, nominated by the ministry for the past one year. I have not been asked to make a tour of the state for fact finding during this period,” said Madhusudan Singh.

THE REPORT CARD

*  According to a CAG report, only 3.2 per cent households have been covered under this scheme
*  The rural development ministry has allocated Rs 1111.76 crore for implementation of this scheme in Bihar
*  CEFS survey fund that of the Rs 733 crore spent in 2006-07 under NREGS, Rs 500 crore were misappropriated by officials

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