86% NREGS fund misuse cases in four southern states

Over 3.62 lakh out of the total 4.20 lakh cases reported in the country were reported from these four states.
86% NREGS fund misuse cases in four southern states

NEW DELHI: Nearly 86% of all the cases of financial misappropriation in works done under Centre’s flagship rural scheme MGNREGS have come from four southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana.

Over 3.62 lakh out of the total 4.20 lakh cases reported in the country were reported from these four states. The data also reflected the minimal recovery of the misappropriated amounts. While the total cases of misappropriation involved an amount of over Rs 974 crore, only Rs 12 crore could be recovered so far.
Andhra Pradesh clocked

1.19 lakh cases of financial misappropriation involving a whopping amount of over Rs 261 crore, out of which only Rs 1.12 crore could be recovered. Tamil Nadu reported maximum number of cases (nearly 1.58 lakh) involving amount of Rs 24.61 crore, but an amount of Rs 4.65 crore could be recovered. Data also reflected high pendency in the cases of misappropriation as only 65,445 cases have been decided out of total 4.20 lakh cases

The above cases of financial misappropriation were discovered during the social audit of the works under MGNREGS. Social Audit Units (SAUs) after auditing the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS works in gram panchayats, identify issues and report the findings, broadly categorised as financial misappropriation, financial deviation, grievance and process Violation. These issues are captured under MIS.

According to the Ministry of Rural Development, for regular monitoring of amounts recovered under social audit, a new report -- Financial Misappropriation Recovery Report -- is added in MIS to enable states and Union Territories to ease the tracking of the decided cases and their recovery progress.

A recent parliamentary committee report observed that MGNREGS is of gargantuan importance in a country where majority still reside in rural areas. It acts as a succor in time of distress. This was proved during the pandemic wherein MGNREGS registration saw a steep hike.

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