Kolkata, June 8 (IANS) The new state government will not tolerate any opacity or corruption in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or the 100-day work that has been re-launched in the state recently.
State Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal has issued strict instructions to district magistrates to increase monitoring of the implementation of the work and ensure accountability at every level, a government official said on Monday. This project has been restarted since the beginning of this month to provide work opportunities to rural job seekers.
On the other hand, the government has also taken a strict stand on the list of beneficiaries of the ‘Banglar Bari’ project during the previous government’s tenure. Instructions have been given to identify fake beneficiaries and take strict legal action.
According to officials at the state secretariat Nabanna, in the instructions sent to the district magistrates, the Chief Secretary clearly stated that the database of about 2 crore 56 lakh job card beneficiaries in the state will have to be completely revised. To eliminate the long-standing issue of fake names, 100 per cent e-KYC verification for every active worker has been made mandatory.
To prevent fake master rolls or irregularities, all important tasks must be completed through a specific digital platform from now on. These include geo-tagging of work sites, accurate costing, master roll generation, electronic measurement book (e-MB), and fund transfer offer (FTO).
The guidelines also state that the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) will be used exclusively for wage payments to workers.
According to administrative officials, the project’s quality was hampered in the past due to inadequate planning, insufficient supervision, approval of excessive work, and fraudulent calculations. This time, this flawless digital surveillance arrangement is being put in place to plug those loopholes.
To further strengthen the monitoring system, the District Magistrates and Block Development Officers (BDOs) have been given special responsibility as coordinators of the district programmes. Regular and mandatory inspection systems should be developed for the physical condition of the work site, the quality of assets, measurement records, material procurement, and wage payments.
In the guidelines, the Chief Secretary has said, in strict language, that any negligence in transparency, financial discipline, digital information, or the use of government funds will be treated with the utmost importance. If irregularities are proven on the basis of audit reports, inspection data, and digital evidence, appropriate legal action will be taken against the concerned officers and workers.
Not only the employment guarantee scheme, but also the rural housing scheme has been taken up by the administration. Chief Secretary Agarwal has sought a detailed report from the Secretary of the Panchayat and Rural Development Department to re-verify the list of beneficiaries of the ‘Banglar Bari’ scheme implemented during the previous Trinamool Congress government.
It has been alleged that money was given to many ineligible people to build houses under this scheme, resulting in a huge loss to the government exchequer. All these ineligible beneficiaries have been ordered to be identified quickly, and legal action taken against them.
The guidelines state that only the beneficiaries of the two-phase Banglar Bari scheme will have to be completely re-verified. In particular, all beneficiaries whose names have been identified as absent, transferred, or dead and dual (ASDD) in the ‘SIR’ process of 2026, and those who have received this benefit illegally, should be excluded from the list, and a detailed report should be submitted.
–IANS
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