Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai may prove to be a saviour for the Union government in the last year of the Manmohan Singh dispensation as the top auditor is set to submit a report on the ambitious flagship scheme for rural employment for which more than Rs 1,50,000 crore has been spent from the Centre’s kitty. The performance audit report of the CAG for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for 12 major states is ready and could be placed before Parliament “any day”.
The MGNREGA is implemented solely by the state governments while the Centre allocates funds. Sources said there are indications that the auditors have found massive misappropriation and lapses in states ruled by non-Congress parties at least for the last 10 years. Sources revealed that corruption in MGNREGA is rampant in large states like UP and Bihar, ruled by the Samajwadi Party and NDA respectively.
Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, though refusing to divulge the details, confirmed: “The CAG report is ready and should be placed before Parliament any day.”
UPA-II had been at the receiving end of the CAG over scams related to 2G spectrum and coal block allocations. But the report on MGNREGA could give the Congress a stick to beat its rivals with in next year’s Lok Sabha elections for misappropriation and irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGA.