Report card of NREGA in Orissa
Of the Rs 700 crore allotted for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Orissa, Rs 500 crore has been siphoned off by officials, says a survey by the Centre for Environment and Food Security (cefs), Delhi. The survey, covering 100 villages across six districts, reported glaring lack of transparency, job cards not being issued, and forgery. Parshuram Ray of cefs says his organisation chose Orissa because there were several positive reports but what they discovered was quite the opposite. Under the scheme, 40 per cent of the funds are allocated for materials and the rest for wages. Ray alleges that the material allocation in Orissa was 80 per cent. Another discrepancy was in the large number of road constructions that "have supposedly been carried out'.