CAG praises AP on MGNREGA

Slams UPA for decline in jobs under the scheme

• CAG praised Andhra Pradesh for introducing in a phased manner Electronic Muster and Measurement system in order to address serious shortcomings in muster rolls. All implementing functionaries were provided with GPS-enabled mobile phones

Venkat Parsa New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh has come in for special praise in the CAG Report on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, which was tabled in parliament on Tuesday. Other states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Punjab came in for flak.

It praised Andhra Pradesh for introducing in a phased manner Electronic Muster and Measurement system in order to address serious shortcomings in muster rolls. All implementing functionaries were provided with GPS-enabled mobile phones under Own Your Mobile Scheme and had also provided with Closed User Group SIM Cards with GPRS internet connectivity.

According to the CAG Report, mobile-based applications had been developed for e-Muster, e-Muster Verification, e-Measurement and e-check Measurement on mobile phones from the worksite and immediate uploading. "In addition, a fingerprint-based bio-metric and GPS-based e-MMS had been implemented in Nizamabad district, whereby muster attendance data was being captured through fingerprint-enabled devices, instead of mobile phones," it stated.

The CAG Report states, "The Government of Andhra Pradesh had issued in January 2012 a circular specifying the timelines for completion of various tasks, the responsible functionaries and the method for calculating and ending dates for computation of delay. In the case of delay beyond the specified periods, 0.3 per cent of wages delayed per day was to be recovered from the functionaries and automatically transferred to the labourers account; recoveries to be approved by Project Director, District Water Management Agency within 24 hours of receipt of the list of deductions."

In the rural job scheme that the Congress-led UPA government counts as one of its most significant achievements in the last nine years of rule at the Centre, the CAG Report slammed the government for decline in employment under MGNREGA, while Rs 128 crore had been misused and work worth a staggering Rs 4000 crore is incomplete

An analysis of releases made to the states for the period under review showed that three States � Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh � had 46 per cent of the rural poor in India. This would indicate that the poorest of the poor were not fully able to exercise their rights under MGNREGA.