Bengal govt announces SOP to prevent 'irregularities' in MGNREGA

Kolkata, Feb 17 (IANS) Amid brewing controversies over "massive irregularities" in implementation of 100-day job scheme under MGNREGS, the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal has announced a standard operating procedure (SOP) for payments of dues to the beneficiaries under the said scheme. 

Under the new SOP, publication and display of the lists of the beneficiaries at prominent places in state government's offices are mandatory.

To begin with, the lists will be displayed at the respective offices of the different village panchayats in different districts of the state.

At the same time, as per the SOP, separate lists will also be published and displayed about how much each beneficiary has received payment under this scheme.

The state government has announced that payments under the 100-day job scheme to the beneficiaries will start from March 1. At the same time, the state government has also decided to start a massive campaign throughout the state about the nitty-gritty of the 100-day job scheme.

From March 1, payments under the scheme will be made to as many as 29.50 lakh beneficiaries. As per the estimates of the state finance department, the total payout under this head will be to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore.

On one hand, Trinamool Congress has accused the Union government of deliberately "holding back" payments of funds under this scheme just because of "political vendetta", while on the other hand the Union government and BJP have accused the state government of massive irregularities in implementation of the schemes especially in the form of creation of lakhs of fake job cards and non-submission of utilisation certificates.

--IANS

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