Bhubaneswar: Orissa, which has already ordered a CBI probe into allegations of rampant corruption in the rural jobs scheme, has also formed a group to monitor the scheme's working in the state, a senior official said Wednesday.
S.K. Lohani, director of special project of the Panchayati Raj department, said the government would also examine the best practices being followed by other states in the execution of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
"We have already registered the 'MGNREGS Society' for overall supervision of the scheme," he said about the monitoring group.
"The chief secretary and the Panchayati Raj department secretary are the governing body chairman and executive body chairman of the society respectively," Lohani said.
"The society is likely to meet some time this month," he said.
The central government Monday informed the Supreme Court that it has ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe allegations of irregularities and misappropriation of funds in the implementation of the MGNREGS in Orissa.
New Delhi-based NGO Centre for Environment and Food Security, in its survey, found that funds were being siphoned off in the state by corrupt officials, thereby denying lakhs of poor people their fundamental right to livelihood.
IANS
First Published: Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 12:54