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| Gross violations, fund embezzlement being probed | | Ali Sagar drained central schemes for vote bank | | Peerzada Ummer
Early Times Report
srinagar, April 16: Former minister for Rural Development Ali Mohammad Sagar allegedly accorded works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) worth crores of rupees allegedly to his party workers.
According to sources, it has been learnt that various works under MGNREGA were sanctioned at various places in the Valley in favour of National Conference workers much ahead of the parliamentary and assembly elections last year.
The PDP-BJP coalition government has already constituted a high level committee to probe the irregularities done in the past, the sources said.
They said the state government has also sent a detailed report to the Union Rural Development ministry, informing it about the liabilities worth crores of rupees and alleged embezzlement done during the tenure of Omar Abdullah.
"The Omar Abdullah government had received a series of complaints regarding misappropriation of funds under the MGNREGA and that works were being allotted to the blue-eyed persons," said the sources. "However, no action was taken over the repeated complaints due to the political interference."
The sources said the scheme was virtually hijacked by NC workers from north to south, while officials were also coerced to follow the diktats.
It has also come to the notice that in several areas of the Valley, the job cards under MGNREGA which were issued to the labourers engaged for developmental works were kept by the village level workers (VLWs). The job cards, as per norms, cannot be issued to VLWs.
Significantly, due to the irregularities, the labour budget for Kashmir division under the scheme was reduced from Rs 374 crore in the previous year to Rs 347 for current financial year. For the entire state the liability for last year is over Rs 373 crore.
Earlier in 2013, after detecting alleged large-scale irregularities in implementation of the centrally-sponsored scheme in Budgam, the central government stopped funding for the scheme. The move came at a time when the state government was making tall claims about ensuring transparency and accountability while executing development works in rural areas. |
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