Continue funding or forget NREGS

Expressbuzz, Feb 5, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: The UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s pet project is facing roadblock in Orissa over funds crunch. Mired by allegations and recriminations, the Centre’s showpiece, NREGS, will stop by the month-end in the State if the UPA Government did not continue funding.

Panchayati Raj Secretary R N Dash has written to the Centre demanding Rs 646 cr for the programme, sources said. Dash has maintained that since the demand for wage employment between December and June is highest, halting the scheme would hit the poor hard. If Central funding is stopped, the State will be forced to discontinue the scheme from February.

The Centre stopped funding NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) citing less than 60 per cent expenditure and delay in submission of utilisation certificates. The issue has once again brought to the fore the continuing mudslinging between the Centre and State over its execution.

Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy reviewed the scheme at a high level meeting here.

The NREGS was introduced in all 30 districts in three phases. The performance in 19 districts, where the scheme took off in the first phase, has been satisfactory. In the second, it was introduced in Angul, Balasore, Bargarh, Bhadrak and Jajpur districts. The scheme was implemented in Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda and Nayagarh in the last phase.

Gajapati district has topped the list in performance with an expenditure of 146 per cent. The execution of the scheme in Deogarh and Mayurbhanj districts were satisfactory with 91 and 80 per cent expenditure respectively. Expenditure of funds in Sonepur, Kalahandi, Jharsuguda and Nabarangpur were above 70 per cent while it was 65 per cent in Rayagada district.

An amount of Rs 622 cr was available under the NREGS in the current financial year out of which Rs 469.71 cr was Central aid, sources said. Expenditure by January-end was Rs 388.03 cr, more than 60 per cent. As many as 230.26 lakh mandays were generated following the implementation of the scheme. Besides, 49,78,735 jobcards were issued by the State Government under the scheme.