The Assembly on Wednesday discussed the budgetary provisions for Rural Development, Rural Works and Road Construction Departments. The Raghubar Das Government has kept provision of Rs 3367.98 crore for Rural Development, Rs 2071.58 crore for Rural Works and Rs 3221.65 crore under Road Construction for 2015-16 together under plan and non-plan segments.
Replying to the Cut Motion brought by the Opposition, Minister Neelkanth Singh Munda defended the demand and announced certain measures to deal with corruption in MGNREGA.
“The Government would deal with rampant corruption in NREGA and PMGSY. We have pinpointed that delay in payment system is the root cause of corruption in the scheme. We are taking steps to simplify the payment system and also initial measurement work would be done by workers themselves. Panchayats are also being involved into this,” said the Minister.
JVM’s Pradeep Yadav blamed the Government for reducing the share of the Rural Development from over 14 per cent to about 12 per cent. “NREGA in the State is on the verge of closure. The State has not been able to take entire share under the scheme. I also doubt official data that every household in the State have been provided with job cards,” said the legislator alleging that as much as 45 per cent of the NREGA money is siphoned-off in commissions.