Civil society activist and member of State-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee of Rural Development Department Ajay Dubey alleged on Sunday that funds from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) were used against the rules for construction work in an urban area in Dhar district.
Dubey informed that information received through an application filed under the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) has shown that funds from MNREGA were used for construction of a stop-dam and a culvert in ward no 15 of Manawar Nagar Palika in Dhar in 2008.
He alleged that the then Collector of Dhar Rajkumar Pathak and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rakesh Shrivastava had granted permission for the work against the rules of MNREGA. Nearly Rs 86 lakh have been spent so far on the works sanctioned in 2008 and it has not been completed as yet, he said.
Notably, under the MNREGA, works are sanctioned only in rural areas to provide employment to rural poor.Dubey further claimed that the two officers issued such illegal orders because of an announcement made by the Chief Minister at that time.
“The most serious question is that how could the Chief Minister make an announcement against established rules and the second point is that the state MNREGA Council has so far not taken any action on such a serious matter,” he stated.
Dubey has alleged that due to large scale irregularities and corruption in MNREGA its benefits are not reaching to the persons who really need them. “Senior officers are benefiting from this corruption and the political leaders are afraid to act against them. Even the announcement of appointing lokpal is merely on paper to befool the people,” he said, demanding that the matter should be probed and guilty officers should be brought to book immediately.