After Modi sniffs corruption in NREGA,Delhi flags state dossier

However,an earlier probe headed by Amita Sharma,joint secretary in-charge of MNREGS in the Union Rural Development Ministry,was ordered on the basis of the The Indian Express report in May that said that forest department workers were being given work under MNREGS.

The probe report has now said that the Gujarat government was using the MNREGS funds to pay its own workers employed for many years,rather than generate fresh employment. Nearly 7,000 forest-produce gatherers and forest workers had threatened to go on an indefinite strike if they were brought under MNREGS.

An official of the probe panel said on Monday,“It has now been established that funds were diverted (by the state government) from Mahatma Gandhi NREGA to the Department of Forest for their own departmental works.”

Top forest officials were not available to comment on the probe panel’s findings.

The probe team,however,found that there was no official directive at any level for the diversion of MNREGA funds for the activities undertaken by the Gujarat government.

The probe panel also looked into other issues including inspection of job cards,muster rolls,cash books,employment registers and other related documents and the entire process adopted by the state government in implementation of MGNREGA. “None of the job cards inspected was found to have shown the entry of work allocation and payment made to the respective workers,” said a probe panel member.

Other probe findings
Three to six month of delay in payments to beneficiaries.

Works under MGNREGA were decided by the Forest Department since no proposal originated from the Gram Sabha.

Irregularities in preparing estimates for works at almost all the sites visited by the probe team.

In some gram panchayats,workers were asked to pay Rs 50 for the photograph

Job cards have been distributed to all the rural households irrespective of their preference for work. Discrepancies in the names of persons on job card and their corresponding photographs.