Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 30
During the year 2016, a total amount of Rs 591.09 Cr was released by the Nagaland State Finance Department, Expenditure ‘B’ Branch for implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on five occasions.
Documents relating to these funds release which are available with The Morung Express submitted by a concerned citizen who obtained it through RTI, assumes significance after the recent issue of blank cheques obtained from Medzhiphema Village Council, 80% fund deduction under Chumukedima Block and the subsequent FIRs filed by ACAUT in both the cases.
While the Medzhiphema Village Council resolved not to issue any more blank cheques to Rural Development Department, the Chumukedima Area GBs Association (CAGBA) which had earlier alleged that the RD Department deducted 80% from the MGNREGA under “convergence fund” clarified later that it was “miscommunication of the ground realities.”
The CAGBA also said that it had come to know the detail funding system from the RD Department and that it does not have any complaints whatsoever and concluded it as a “general public clarification.” The association, however, did not publicly explain what the detail funding was all about as they stated to have learnt, leading to public opinion that 80% was deducted and the CAGBA as having understood the reason for such deduction.
As per the documents, there were 5 release orders dated April 28, June 16, July 11, September 22 and October 7, 2016, releasing amounts of Rs 89.58 Cr, Rs 200 Cr, Rs 168.57 Cr, Rs 59.20 Cr and Rs 73.74 Cr respectively.
The five different official release orders amounting to Rs 591.09 Cr stated that the amounts released do not constitute expenditure sanction but required sanction from competent authority before incurring any expenditure. The recent issue of blank cheques and percentage deduction by RD Department is not the first time that has surfaced in public domain. There had been numerous instances of complaints about meagre amounts reaching the beneficiaries owing to siphoning off of funds at different levels.
If one has to take the case of 80% deduction out of Rs 591.09 Cr released last year as the general scenario of the entire RD Blocks in the State, then only Rs 118. 21 Cr (20%) was released to the VDBs and Rs 472.88 Cr (80%) missing/misappropriated, which actually belongs to the villagers/job card holders.
If the list of funds released to each village is put up in public domain, that would enable crosschecking as to whether the actual amount received by the concerned villages tallies.
With the Centre pumping into the State hundreds of crores of rupees every year under MGNREGA and allegations of the fund misuse being deliberated in social media and local dailies every now and then, it sounds a bell for the government to call in effective and speedy central investigations instead of State government formed committees or authorities, which are time consuming and come with the apprehension of manipulation.
It may be noted that the five drawal authorities pertain only to MGNREGA funds under the RD Department, and does not cover other schemes which are yet to come under public examination.
