ANANTAPUR: The non-governmental organisations which have participated in the social audit of NREGS in the district have felt that the implementation of the scheme has been by-and-large satisfactory.

They have, however, found some irregularities during the process and have suggested some remedial steps to the Government.

Representatives of NGOs, field assistants, implementing officials and others shared their experience of social audit, conducted in 600 villages of 38 mandals in the district, from September 2 to 8, at a plenary session held here on Saturday.

Good exercise

Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan, working in Rajasthan, termed the social audit of NREGS an extraordinary exercise.

"Irrespective of some irregularities here and there, let's not kill the baby in the name of our idealism", she appealed to all concerned.

She suggested examination of works in progress to minimise the lacunae and asked the administration to initiate suo motu action against the discrepancies as and when they were noticed. Finding muster rolls in work sites in the district, where it was a rarity in the past, was a phenomenal achievement, she felt. The social activist reiterated that the initiative of social audit was not fault-finding mission or witch-hunting but an exercise to ensure that the money allocated for the wage employment reached the poor.

Joint Secretary of Parliamentary Committee on Finance Amitabh Mukhopadhyay said the most significant aspect he noticed in the implementation of NREGS here was payment of equal wages to men and women workers. He termed the muster rolls as a sacrosanct document and urged the officials to maintain it properly.

He also suggested creation of asset registers to prevent misdeeds by virtue of taking up old and completed works. Social development schemes in the country were suffering with collusive corruption, he observed.

Hailing NREGS as a revolution in wage employment provision, Ecology Director of RDT Y.V. Malla Reddy said there was no occasion in the past in Anantapur where more than 50,000 workers were engaged in one scheme. But, the NREGS had already engaged1.86 lakh wage-seekers, he said.

No involvement of machinery, no direct involvement of contractors and equal wages for men and women were significant achievement of the scheme, irrespective of irregularities.

Discrepancies were found to be high after the wage amount reached the pass books in post offices, he said. He also pointed out denial of work in some villages.

Prevented migration

Shastry, representative of another NGO, suggested recording of work done by wage-seeker every day in his work passbook.

They had noticed that the scheme had prevented migration and quality of works was also reasonably good, he said.

Mandal Parishad Development Officer of Tadipatri I. Narasimha Reddy attributed most of the discrepancies found in social audit to an environment of mistrust between the representatives of NGOs and officials.

Minister for Rural Development said that action would be initiated against all those responsible for the irregularities.

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