MGNREGA frauds worth 22 cr unearthed

MGNREGA frauds worth 22 cr unearthed
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A huge amount of irregularities worth Rs. 22 crore were unearthed in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme, here on Wednesday. The scheme which is meant for providing 100 days of work to all the poor people below poverty line has become a source of large-scale corruption in the district.  

Mahbubnagar: A huge amount of irregularities worth Rs. 22 crore were unearthed in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) programme, here on Wednesday. The scheme which is meant for providing 100 days of work to all the poor people below poverty line has become a source of large-scale corruption in the district.

As per the social audit conducted by the audit wing of the District Water Management Agency (DWMA), about 8383 people involved in various financial irregularities in the scheme in 2015-16. As per the report obtained by The Hans India, up to 28 November 2015, an amount of Rs. 22.01 crore has been deviated from the actual spending, of which Rs. 10.56 crore is so far determined to have been spent misappropriated.

During the social audits conducted in the mandals in 8 rounds for about 390 times, there were about 31072 objections raised and the total worth of raised objections was Rs 22.01 crore. The authorities have so far resolved 12366 cases and notified the concerned authorities to recover Rs. 10.57 crore from the defaulters. The remaining 18700 financial objections pending account to about Rs. 11.44 crore and this amount also needed to be recovered.

Among the defaulters, there are 28 Mandal Parishad Development Officers (MPDOs), 104 Additional Project Officers and 31 Assistant Executive Engineers being involved in the financial irregularities among the top officials.

All these top level officials have swindled about Rs. 97.38 lakh by not properly implementing the MGNREGA works in their respective mandals. A major chunk of Rs. 5.65 crore has been found spent inappropriately among the Field Assistants (FAs) and about an amount of Rs. 2.86 is being misappropriated by Technical assistants (TAs).

According to audit authorities, the investigation is a continuous process and many more financial irregularities are yet to be found. “We are still continuing our investigation and auditing each and every aspect pertaining to MGNREGA. Many TAs, FAs and the top officials involved the financial mismanagement were suspended and even removed from their jobs.

About Rs 3.9 crore has been recovered from the defaulters, while another Rs. 6.588 crore is still to be recovered. As per the law, we have issued legal proceedings against the defaulters and action will be taken against them as per the law,” said an official in the audit department at DWMA.

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