Jairam to Maya: Let CBI probe MGNREGA
Ahead of next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has sought concurrence of chief minister Mayawati for a CBI probe into irregularities in implementation of Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the state. In a clear bid to put pressure on the UP government, Mr Ramesh in his letter has drawn parallels with the irregularities in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in the state, which is already being probed by the CBI.
Mr Ramesh in his letter has accused the Mayawati-led state government for not taking any action against those alleged to be behind “embezzlement” of funds under the MGNREGA.
In the hard-hitting letter Mr Ramesh has referred to inaction on the part of the UP government against allegations of financial irregularities by saying “the signal that has gone out by the state government’s continuing inaction is clear — make money openly, flout all rules and procedures blatantly and nothing will happen to you if you have the patronage of the ruling establishment of the state”.
Clearly upping the ante against the Mayawati government just before the UP state elections, Mr Ramesh wrote, “If the state government has nothing to hide and has a clear conscience, it should have no objection to our request to have a thorough CBI inquiry conducted into the MGNREGA implementation in some districts of the state based on the findings of the National Level Monitors (NLM) and State Quality Monitor (SQM).”
The minister has given broad details of few of the irregularities under the MGNREGA in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur and Kushinagar districts. Mr Ramesh has also noted that the “need for such a CBI probe is urgent since the labour budget under the MGNREGA has exceeded `5,000 crores in 2011/12 in UP which, incidentally, has all been borne by the Central government”.
Mr Ramesh further stressed that the criminal conspiracies in these districts to defraud the central and state government appear to be as scandalous as what had been the case with the NRHM in the state, which is already being probed by the CBI.
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