'Only 35 days employment under rural job scheme in Chhattisgarh'

Monday, 23 February 2009, 17:47 IST
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Raipur: Chhattisgarh provided employment of just 35 days per household on an average in fiscal 2007-08 under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) that ensures 100 days of employment in a financial year to any registered rural household. "Employment is to be provided within 15 days of demand under the NREGS. The Chhattisgarh government spent 2,070.65 crore (20.7 billion) during 2006-08 providing average employment of 41 days during 2006-07 and 35 days during 2007-08," said a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for 2007-08 for Chhattisgarh. The CAG further remarked about the state of implementation of NREGS, a flagship scheme of the central government, in Chhattisgarh, saying: "It was observed that the details of employment provided and payments made were either not entered or incomplete in the employment registers and test checked job cards." The CAG report also highlighted "shortcomings in monitoring and complaint redressals" in NREGS in the state. It said a huge delay was made in payment of wages and several people were also deprived of unemployment allowance. "Delays ranging from one to 326 days in payment of wages of 3.12 crore (31.2 million) to 94,853 members, non-payment of unemployment allowance to 960 members and cases of works without muster rolls of 1.56 crore (15.6 million) were noticed," the report stated.
Source: IANS