CONTEXT

 

The CAG (Comproter and Auditor General) report has criticised the functioning of NREGA in the country. Orissa has been singled out in recent newspaper reports on the same. There is need to look at the specific points made in the report.

 

 

 

REQUESTED BY an MP from Orissa

 

 

DUE DATE: March 12, 2008

 

 

RESPONSE

 

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NREGA in Orissa -Excerpts from CAG report

 

 

Orissa Specific findings-

 

 

Job Cards

 

·         670 households of 16 GPs of Narla Block of Kalahandi District were not registered, despite submitting applications, on the grounds that their names did not feature in the 2002 BPL survey list.

 

·         In 6 GPs of 2 Blocks in Kalahandi District, job cards were not issued to 342 households, while 14 villages in Duarsuni GP intimated non-supply of job cards despite application.

 

·         One village (Kajumaska) of Santapur with a population of 90 (SC-11; ST-79) was not covered for registration of households.

 

·         In one GP, 13 job cards were found by DRDA officials to be lying with GP officials. In another GP, 21 cards were lying with the GP authorities, and were issued at the instance of audit.

 

 

Works

 

·         In one block (Bhawanipatna) of Kalahandi District, 149 works were executed at a cost of Rs 7.55 crore between February 2006 and March 2007 through contractors in the guise of Village Labour Leaders (VLLs) (up to November 2006) and in the name of departmental execution through the Junior Engineers (from December 2006). The VLLs and JEs procured road metal and other materials out of their own resources and also in many cases indicated payment of wages without receiving any advance/ sufficient advance. Site account registers in respect of receipt and issue of materials to the work and Temporary advance register in respect of advance availed from December 2006 for payment of wages had not been maintained, despite their mandated requirement for departmental execution. Materials were not purchased on tender/ quotation basis and purchase bills/ payment receipts were not treated as expenditure document. Instead, work bills were paid to the VLLs/ JEs based on item and volume of works executed in similar manner as allowed in the case of work done by the contractors. Measurement for these works was also made by the same JE, shown as departmentally executing the work. This is indicative of execution of works by the contractors in the guise of VLLs and in the name of departmental execution.

 

·         NREGA Guidelines permit execution of road projects providing all weather connectivity in rural areas. However, joint physical inspection in September 2007 of three road works executed at a cost of Rs 15 lakh in Bhawanipatna block disclosed that the roads remained kutcha, even after improvement, and were not able to provide all weather access. Further, recording of inflated measurement in the measurement books and Level section Graph sheets in all the three cases, and excess payment of Rs.1.80 lakh in one case was also noticed.

 

Employment and Wages

 

·         Out of 1835 works approved in the Annual Action Plans of 48 GPs test checked, only 444 works (24per cent) were taken up.

 

·         In one GP (Duarsuni of Bhawanipatna block), list of three works (estimated cost: Rs. 20 lakh) executed were not approved by the Gram Sabha.

 

·         In Kalahandi district, due to delay in execution of 46 works by an executing agency (Assistant Soil Conservation Officer, Bhawanipatna), there was cost overrun by Rs 35.03 lakh.

 

·         Excess payment of Rs. 7.98 lakh in 13 cases in Bhawanipatna block, due to non-deduction of voids and volume of sand and moorum utilized, was noticed.

 

·         In Bhawanipatna block, one road work was executed at Rs 5 lakh during 2006-07 without technical sanction.

 

·         Two executing agencies in Bhawanipatna block utilized Rs 47.80 lakh to complete seven numbers of incomplete works taken up under NFFWP, without following the provisions of NREGA Guidelines.

 

·         Similarly, the Assistant Soil Conservation Officer, Bhawanipatna utilized Rs 29.85 lakh during 2006-07 without following the NREGA Guidelines as registered labourers were not engaged; un-authorised (kutcha) muster rolls available in the market were used without the authority of the Programme Officer.

 

·         In 48 test checked GPs, against 31,027 BPL households, 37, 630 households were registered, and only 13,778 households were provided employment during 2006-07.

 

·         In the 12 test checked blocks, against the targeted generation of 194.50 lakh person days as per the Annual Plan, only 44.27 lakh person days (23 per cent) were generated. Average employment provided was 24 days per household. Out of 1.80 lakh registered households, only 5158 households were provided 100 days or more of employment. Providing 100 days of employment was also not free from doubt, as physical verification of job cards of 13 out of 14 test checked households revealed only 10 to 96 days of employment, as against 100 days or more shown in the online job cars. Further, out of 121 households reported by 4 GPs to have completed 100 days of employment, only 3 households were found to have completed 100 days of employment as per the GP Employment Registers.

 

·         In the 48 test checked GPs, against the targeted generation of 47.79 lakh mandays for 2006-07, only 7.09 lakh mandays (15 per cent) were generated.

 

·         Check of registers in 18 GPs of Bolangir, Gajapati and Keonjhar Districts revealed that out of 26,055 registered persons as of March 2007, only 7038 persons (27 per cent) had applied and joined in work.

 

·         In 13 muster rolls (Bhawanipatna block), 64 ineligible labourers (30 unregistered labourers and 34 labourers belonging to the households already provided with 100 days employment in a year) were engaged on work and paid Rs.0.77 lakh as wages.

 

·         Out of 142 job cards test checked, in 55 cases the employment provided as per the physical job cards ranged from 9 to 99 days – totaling 2515 days, while the online job cards showed employment provided from 13 to 108 days – totaling 4313 days. In the remaining 87 cases, the employment provided as per the physical job cards ranged from 18 to 335 days – totaling 8272 days, while the employment provided as per the online job cards ranged from 3 to 108 days. Thus, the job cards were unreliable.

 

·         Beneficiary interviews of 142 households in 21 villages of Kalahandi and Bolangir Districts in the presence of the Sarpanch/ PRI member and BDO revealed that in 98 cases, the beneficiaries disputed their engagement, and in 117 cases, they stated receipt of wages of only Rs. 3.41 lakh against Rs. 5.76 lakh shown in the online job cards and Muster Rolls.

 

·         In 18 GPs in Bolangir, Gajapati and Keonjhar District, out of 26,055 registered households as of March 2007, only 7038 persons (27 per cent) had applied for work.

 

·         In 6 cases involving wage payment of Rs. 13.66 lakh, there were delays ranging from 17 to 53 days, but no compensation was paid.

 

·         Due to issue of excess work orders for Rs. 2.96 crore beyond the allotted fund, the bills of 46 works were pending in Bhawanipatna block of Kalahandi District since June 2007. In two out of three test checked cases, wages of Rs. 0.96 lakh to 186 labourers engaged in April/ May 2007 had not been paid as of September 2007, and no MR was submitted in the third case.

 

·         Non-payment and delayed payment of wages in Kalahandi was also confirmed by the District Labour Officer.

 

In 6 GPs, there was underpayment of wages of Rs. 0.48 lakh to 866 labourers vis-à-vis the minimum wage rate.

 

Unemployment Allowance

 

·         In Orissa, no budget provision was made by the State government for payment of unemployment allowance. Resultantly, in 12 test checked blocks, no unemployment allowance was paid to 5143 registered households who were not provided with employment during 2006-07 despite demanding the same.

 

Fund Management

 

·         Against Rs 103.42 crore payable towards State share, only Rs 75.46 crore was released, resulting in short release of State share of Rs 27.96 crore.

 

·          State share of Rs 1.55 crore for 2005-06 payable on the initial installment released in February 2006 by the Centre (Rs 15.48 crore) under NREGA to DRDA, Kalahandi had not been released as of September 2007.

 

·          Delay in release of State share of Rs 4.03 crore for DRDA Bolangir ranged between 37 and 74 days.

 

·         Against an actual expenditure of Rs. 49.80 lakh, the DRDA Kalahandi had submitted Utilisation Certificate for the entire release of Rs. 70.02 lakh during March 2006.

 

·         Scheme fund of Rs 29.67 lakh was diverted during 2006-07 in Loisinga block (Rs 10.60 lakh), Bhawanipatna block (Rs 19.07 lakh) and three GPs (Rs 0.93 lakh) for purposes not connected with NREGA viz. payment of staff salary, Calamity Relief Fund etc., of which Rs. 11.16 lakh remained unrecouped.

 

·         BDO Bhawanipatna , Kalahandi District irregularly charged Rs. 11.37 lakh as works contingency for miscellaneous use.

 

·         Although the State Government prescribed submission of vouchers in support of advances within 7 days of receipt of cash advances, such vouchers in respect of advances of Rs. 71.74 lakh were outstanding from 13 officials/ ex-officials for periods ranging from six to nine months.

 

In 2 GPs, the Executive Officers, despite being transferred, had not handed over the unspent cash balance of Rs. 1.77 lakh to their successors.

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION OF THE REPORT

 

 

The average State-wise shortfall in works actually taken up vis-à-vis those contemplated in the Annual Plans ranged from 1 per cent (West Bengal) to 97 per cent (Maharashtra). The shortfall in execution of works affected the provision of the legally guaranteed 100 days of employment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·         District Perspective Plan- DPPs were not prepared by 43 test checked districts in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,  Jharkhand (two districts), Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal (20 States).

 

 

 

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which is intended to enhance livelihood security by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to any rural household, whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work, was initially notified in 200 districts with effect from February 2006. The performance audit of its implementation in these districts revealed significant deficiencies, and scope for improvement.

 

The main deficiency was the lack of adequate administrative and technical manpower at the Block and GP levels, especially the Programme Officer, Technical Assistants, and Employment Guarantee Assistants. The lack of manpower adversely affected the preparation of plans, scrutiny, approval, monitoring and measurement of works, and maintenance of the stipulated records at the block and GP level. Besides affecting the implementation of the scheme and the provision of employment, this also impacted adversely on transparency, and made it difficult to verify the provision of the legal guarantee of 100 days of employment on demand.

 

 

Planning was inadequate and delayed, which resulted in poor progress of works. Further, the provision of employment fell far short of the targeted employment in 2006-07, both vis-à-vis the Annual Plans, as well as the legal limit of 100 days.

 

 

Systems for financial management and tracking were deficient, with numerous instances of diversion/ misutilisation, and delay in transfer of State Share. Monthly squaring of accounts at different levels to maintain financial accountability and transparency was also not being done. Maintenance of records at the block and GP levels was extremely poor, and the status of monitoring, evaluation and social audit was also not up to the mark.

 

 

 

 

 

Source of Data

 

http://nrega.nic.in/news/0228112007.pdf

 

Performance Audit of Implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (NREGA)- Office of the Principal Director of Audit, Economic and Service Ministries, New Delhi