Audit Reports

Overview

The Government of India (GoI) passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in September 2005, which was renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in October 2009. The Act provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households (HHs) in rural areas of India by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to each household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. A Stand alone on  performance audit on implementation of MGNREGS in the State for the period April 2007 to March 2012 was conducted between March and August 2012 covering six out of 24 districts of the State.
Some of the major audit findings are :

Capacity Building : The State scheme (NREGS-Jharkhand) was formulated after a delay of one year and nine months from the date of notification of the NREGA Act. Similarly, State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) was also constituted after a delay of 11 months from the date of launching of the scheme. In six sampled districts, vacancies in the cadre of Programme Officers ranged between 19 and 50 per cent, and between 61 and 90 per cent in the cadre of Assistant Engineers except in Pakur district where vacancy was 100 per cent. The delay in formulation of rules and constitution of SEGC by the State and inadequacy of manpower adversely affected capacity building for proper implementation of the Scheme.

In absence of District Perspective Plan and improper preparation and delay in approval of Development Plans/Annual Action Plans the districts lacked a framework for implementation of the scheme properly.

Budget estimation under MGNREGS was defective due to unrealistic preparation of labour budget by District Planning Committees (DPCs). The State was deprived of Central share owing to slow pace of expenditure by the districts. Funds provided under the schemes to DPCs were not fully utilised. The State Employment Guarantee Fund was not created in any of the test checked blocks and GPs.

During 2007-12, 13,000 households were deprived of employment though demanded. However, no unemployment allowance was paid to them. Out of the eligible registered households only one to three per cent households were provided 100 days of employment.

Instances of utilisation of the MRs prior to the date of their issue by the Programme Officers and engagement of 238 labourers twice/thrice for the same period were noticed resulting in fraudulent wage payments. During the period 2009-12 wages amounting to Rs 2.14 crore were paid to the labourers through Large Area Multi Purposes  Society (LAMPS) which resulted in short payment of wages amounting to Rs 8.81 lakh as service charges were deducted from the wages of the labourers.  

During the period 2007-12 1,408 inadmissible Mitti-murram works were taken up for construction violating the prescribed norms. In three out of six test checked districts, works amounting to Rs 1.72 crore were abandoned mid-way, rendering the entire expenditure on these works wasteful. The Government failed to create durable assets for the use of the community as 2,949 works sanctioned during the period 2007-12 remained incomplete even after lapse of time of upto five years due to improper planning, slow progress of work, engagement of GRS in multiple works etc., despite incurring expenditure of  Rs 27.91 crore.

A sum of Rs 11.93 crore of MGNREGS funds was spent during 2007-12 on procurement of materials such as boulder, metal, chips, murram etc. from unregistered suppliers who supplied the materials through illegal extraction. This would have adverse implications on the environment. The number of women who got employment under the scheme in 2011-12 was below the prescribed norms.

Only one scheme, construction of BNRGSK building, was converged under MGNREGS. The completion of construction of BNRGSK buildings in the test checked districts was only 11 per cent of the target for construction.

The status of inspection of works was inadequate. State Quality Monitors and District Quality Monitors not appointed in the State and at district level as of July 2012.A Citizen's Charter was not prepared. No meetings/inspections were held by the High level Coordination Committee. There were large number of discrepancies between the data uploaded in the MIS and the information furnished in the Monthly Progress Report, rendering the data in respect of the scheme unreliable.

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• Report No. 4 of 2013 - Performance Audit on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme of Government of Jharkhand

• Index
• Preface
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1 - Introduction
• Chapter 2 - Capacity Building
• Chapter 3 - Planning
• Chapter 4 - Financial Management
• Chapter 5 - Registration and Employment
• Chapter 6 - Muster Role and Payment of Wages
• Chapter 7 - Execution of Schemes
• Chapter 8 - Environment Protection and Social Aspects
• Chapter 9 - Convergence
• Chapter 10 - Monitoring and Evaluation
• Appendices