*40% job cards suspected to be fake
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Notwithstanding the fact that Union Government is providing Rs 900 crore per annum to Jammu and Kashmir under MGNREGA, the benefit of the scheme is not reaching to the actual beneficiaries due to lack of checks and balances at different levels in the Rural Development Department.
This came to the fore during the deliberations of the meeting convened by the State Vigilance Commission (SVC) with the Rural Development Department, which has 3rd highest number of complaints/ enquires pending disposal since long.
Secretary SVC gave the details of 823 complaints/ enquires pending in the various wings of the Department. He mentioned that 73 complaints are lying with Administrative Department, 215 with Director RDD Jammu, 233 with Director RDD Kashmir, 41 with Police Department and 261 with other departments.
During discussion, it came to fore that Rs 900 crore per annum are provided by the Central Government under MGNREGA scheme for various developmental works of the rural areas but the benefit of the scheme is not reaching the actual beneficiaries due to lack of checks and balances at different levels of the department.
Other schemes— IAY (Indra Awaas Yojna) and SBA (Swachh-Bharat-Abhiyan), which are also meant for upliftment of rural areas, are also not yielding desired results on ground.
The issue of fake job cards also came under discussion and it was informed that the Central Government has directed for re-verification of all the job cards as around 40 % of the job cards have been suspected to be fake. The Commissioner Secretary informed that re-verification of the job cards will be expedited to exclude the misuse of such cards.
The Chief Vigilance Commissioner laid emphasis on the point that the officers should not deviate from the spirit of these Centrally sponsored schemes, which are meant for the development of poor people living in remote and rural areas. “The feeling among the rural masses that developmental works of influential persons are being done instead of impoverished people needs to be eradicated”, he stressed.
It was directed that photography and videography of the works executed by the contractors should be done invariably to curb the menace of corruption and execution of works in papers only. The Commissioner Secretary RDD informed the Commission that all the works executed under various schemes in future will be photographed and the photographs will be uploaded on the departmental website with the longitude and latitude of the works.
He was directed to devise a mechanism for checks and balances at all levels in the Department so that the people get directly benefited from the schemes. He was further directed to come up with a proposal so that the State Vigilance Commission can issue necessary guidelines to be followed by the Rural Development Department and also by the other departments.
It was also emphasized that internal vigilance system in the department needs to be strengthened which will check the leakage of funds through dubious means which otherwise should directly go to the actual beneficiaries. The Chief Vigilance Commissioner directed the officers of RDD to complete the pending complaints/enquires within next 45 days.
The meeting was chaired by Kuldeep Khoda, Chief Vigilance Commissioner and attended by R K Jerath and Gous-ul-Nisa, Vigilance Commissioners, S Owais, Director Vigilance Organization, Shafaat N Barlas, Commissioner Secretary RDD, Secretary/ Addl. Secretary SVC, IGP Vigilance Organization, Director RDD Jammu/Srinagar, JDP Vigilance Organization and other officers of the Commission, Vigilance Organization and Rural Development Department.
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