Union Minister of State for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said the Centre will not hesitate to stop the flow of funds to states, if they are found to be guilty in flouting norms and diverting it for some other purposes.
“The funds would be made available to states under various Centre-sponsored schemes as long as they (states) do not make any changes in the implementation process,” he said here on Friday. Ramesh said several suggestions were made at the meeting in which CM Siddaramaiah and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil were present to enlarge the provisions of the MGNREGS norms to release funds for the construction of cow, sheep sheds and graveyard. Ramesh said at the meeting, it was also decided to made it mandatory for all the women beneficiaries of the MGNREGS to open a separate bank account in their names instead of having household accounts.
“More than 46 percent of the beneficiaries of the MGNREGS programme are women,” the Minister said.