NEW DELHI: The Central Employment Guarantee Council, set up to monitor the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme, has sought an increase in the funds earmarked to meet administrative expenses.

The Council, which held its first meeting here on Wednesday, unanimously agreed that the percentage of funds needed to be increased from two to six.

Addressing the Council members, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said he too was in favour of raising the funds and had written to the Finance Ministry for raising the amount to 6 per cent of the fund but the proposal was rejected by the Finance Minister who was, though, willing to increase the funds to 4 per cent. However, the proposal was re-sent to the Finance Ministry which subsequently constituted the Special Finance Committee to look into it. The committee was expected to take a decision on the proposal on September 29, Mr. Singh said.

In a note submitted to Mr. Singh, who chairs the Council, two members, Jean Dreze and Annie Raja, pointed out that the existing procedures for recording and redressing grievances were very weak. The same authorities were responsible for implementing the scheme and addressing grievances. Second, there were no explicit and automatic penalties even for gross violations such as refusing applications for work.

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