Congress leader Sanjay Dixit alleged a scam of over Rs 500 crore in Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) under the Union ministry of rural development and demanded an inquiry by the sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation. He claimed that even after full information, the department concerned made huge payments for the work in which the agencies not engaged even a single unskilled of skilled labour but completed over 5000 permanent projects spread in 65 districts of UP.
Interestingly, Congress leader provided documents in which he shown bungling under MNREGA in Rae Bareli (Represented in Parliament by Congress President Sonia Gandhi who is also chairperson of United Progressive Alliance Government), Amethi (Parliament constituency of Rahul Gandhi), Jhansi (represented by Pradeep Jain Aditya who is also minister of state in rural development ministry which is running MGNREGA), and lucknow (State capital where chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and other senior officers including local rural development ministry directly supervise each and every projects).
Sanjay Dixit, who failed to continue as member of Monitoring Committee of MNREGA formed under Central Ministry of Rural Development called a press conference here on Thursday afternoon and handed over document that how Rs magic’ has been done by the agencies who showed thousands and thousands of projects completed without engaging a single labour. He claimed that just in last about three years, the agencies in connivance with the officials of Agriculture Department in the Centre siphoned off over Rs 500 crore by showing 5000 projects completed. He claimed that what is more surprising that the entire operation has been made even when the Ministry of Rural Development has been well informed of the irregularties.
Sanjay Dixit claimed that Joint Secretary in the RD Ministry, DK Jain had also written a letter in this regard to principal secretary of the RD Department here in UP on October 20, 2011 in which he highlighted the above irregularlities made in projects for eg vegetable plantation, boundary wall construction, walls of school play ground, kharanja etc which are shown completed without engaging any work force (labourers). Jain directed to make an enquiry and take necessary action. However, no enquiry has been made and the parties concerned were made all the payments. Congress leader claimed that it is surprising that the officers even dared to make bungling done in Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jhansi and lucknow even after full informations to the persons sitting at top in RD Ministry.
Congress leader further targeted his own Party’s minister Jairam Ramesh when he said that the Union Minister and some leading Social Activists are misguiding the public on the issue of stopping flow of MGNREGA fund where such anomalies have been high-lighted. Rs Rs The ministry and social activists claimed that the funds could not be stopped as in that case the labourer and poor persons would suffer”, cited Sanjay Dixit claiming that this is completely misleading information as Section 27 (2) of MGNREGA Act clearly made provisions that in such cases, the State Governments were responsible to carry on work on their expenditure and if they failed to do so than they should give unemployment allowance to all the labourers.
Sanjay Dixit said that Jairam Ramesh wrote several letter to Akhilesh Yadav’s government in which he demanded CBI enquiry into irregularlities made under MGNREGA in UP. Now, he wanted that such irregularlities in the Central Departments and that too in full knowledge of the RD ministry needs no requirement of state government’s recommendantion for a CBI enquiry so let Jairam Ramesh now take initiative and immediately ordered a enquiry so guilty sitting both in the Centre and here in UP could be brought to book and punished.