MNREGA revamp version to be in place by end-May

Admitting that MNREGA had its share of corruption and irregularities, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh yesterday said guidelines for the revamped version of the centre's flagship rural development programme would be in place by May-end.

According to the minister 30 new activities had been added in MNREGA-2 of which 27 were agriculture related. The minister said, the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) would audit the MNREGA expenditure in 12 states accounting for nearly 85 per cent of the scheme's outlay, and emphasised that the list included Congress-ruled states to counter the criticism that only Opposition-ruled states were targeted.

The minister said even though the relations between the CAG and the government were not exactly good, they were for performance audit by the national auditor.

He added he could not cross a certain Laxman rekha and the only weapon was to write repeatedly to the state governments and it was for them to punish the corrupt. He alleged that most states pulled their punches while cracking the whip on corruption.

He added, in a federal structure, it was the responsibility of the centre to collect money and it could not claim to own it, but had the right to question how the states spent it and to stop scams.

He praised Andhra Pradesh for its effective social audit resulting in the unearthing of a Rs120-crore scam, out of which Rs30 crore had been recovered and those responsible for it (corruption) suspended.