EFMS to check fraud in MGNREGS payments

The State Government will roll out the electronic funds management system (eFMS) under MGNREGS in the State. This will facilitate online payment of wages directly to the bank accounts of the labourers.

Under the scheme, details of work done by labourers under the rural job scheme are maintained electronically by using a software - MGNREGASoft -  to facilitate direct payment to their accounts.

Besides, work valuation of labourers is also done by this system. The objective of eFMS is timely payment of wages to labourers in a most transparent manner, official sources said.

The broad objective of eFMS is to enable online fund transfer from a central fund, positioned at the State headquarters, to block and panchayat levels. It greatly reduced the related file maintenance, correspondence and delays in the transfer of funds to the field level, the sources said.

The new system also minimised the corrupt practices like diversion and parking of funds in other accounts and enabled automatic generation of accounts at each level for each transaction thereby facilitating a better decision.  Besides, drawing of funds was based on the actual need after the work execution as per the norms and the system eliminated instances of forgery and fraudulent drawing of money through bank cheques, the sources said.

The other benefits of the system are to maintain up-to-date accounts at all levels based on the transaction which will enable better planning and execution of programme in a scientific manner.

The eFMS programme was piloted in Seragada block of Ganjam district has been extended to all the blocks. The State Government is now ready to replicate the e-governance programme in all the districts.

Though the State Government had set a target to complete updating of job cards in MGNREGA website by May, many districts were seen lagging behind. The district collectors and project directors of the district rural development agencies (DRDAs) were issued activity chart in June as part of this verification process.

The eFMS programme will be formally launched at a state-level programme here on Thursday.

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The New Indian Express
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