Berhampur (Orissa): The CPI(M) on Wednesday demanded transfer of the district collectors and the block
development officers (BDO) before the CBI started probe into
alleged irregularities in implementing centrally-sponsored
rural job scheme under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act(MNREGS).
The party also urged the central investigation agency
to inquire the scam in all 30 districts of the state instead
of eight, where the scam was detected by an NGO.
"We will write to the director of the CBI about our
demands very soon," party?s state committee Secretary
Janardan Pati said here while hailing the government?s recent
decision of CBI probe into the allegedly irregularities in
MGNRGA.
The inquiry would not be transparant as the same
district collectors and BDOs remained in the same areas, he
said.
"The scam on the job-guaranteed scheme was not only
limited in the districts, but it also spread all over. So we
demanded the probe should be extended to all 30 districts of
the state," the CPI(M) leader said.
The irregularity was detected by a Delhi-based
Center for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) in seven
sample districts like Ganjam, Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi,
Gajapati, Sundargarh and Keonjhar.?
The job guarantee scheme launched in 2006, ensures 100
days of employment in a year to a rural household whose adult
members want to do manual work.
Ganjam, the home district of Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik, was worst affected district in the scam, he said.
State’s Revenue Minister S N Patra and Rural
development and law minister Bikram Keshari Arukha, two senior
ministers, also represent Ganjam district now.
The chief minister?s home district had been awarded
twice for successful implementation of the scheme by the
Ministry of Rural Development.
The survey found that the yearly average employment
per household was less than half a day, the CPI(M) leader
said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 19:20