The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Union Minister regrets misuse of Central funds

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Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Union Minister regrets misuse of Central funds

Special Correspondent

Only 60 p.c. of money reaches target groups of Central schemes: V. Narayanasamy

On schemes’ implementation: Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy sharing a word with Chairman of National Council of Rural Institutes S. V. Prabhath at a convention of Rural Institutes in Hyderabad on Monday.

HYDERABAD: Union Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V. Narayanasamy has regretted that only 60 per cent of money in Centrally-sponsored schemes reached the target groups as there was no proper monitoring agency for the works either in the Central or the State government.

He told a meeting here on Monday that he was shocked to learn during a visit to Bastar in Chhattisgarh recently that a sarpanch had drawn Rs. 2 lakh from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for levelling a playground without paying wages to labourers who were supposed to be beneficiaries of the programme.

The Minister was inaugurating a convention organised by the National Council of Rural Institutes. He shared his experience in execution of Central schemes in tribal pockets of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

He said pesticides were purchased with NREGS funds at another place though there was no provision for the transaction. Funds were also claimed in violation of guidelines in the Prime Minister’s Grameen Sadak Yojana. He also said that the Centre had proposed an institution of ombudsman to monitor the schemes, but the idea was at a preliminary stage. NCRI chairman S.V. Prabhath said the organisation was working on programmes of peace and conflict resolution.

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