From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: From now onwards, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will audit all expenditure related to various rural development schemes sponsored by the Central government to bring in more transparency and accountability in the system.
The CAG will appoint special Accountant Generals (AGs) in various parts of the country to take care of auditing of funds provided by the Central government for rural development schemes in various states.
Union Minister for Rural Development, Jairam Ramesh informed here that already he had three rounds of discussion about it with the CAG and the a formal announcement about the new auditing system for RD schemes likely to be announced next week.
The Union minister said, “This (auditing by CAG) is an absolutely necessary, as people have the right to get benefit of the every penny of Rs 100,000 crore spent by the Government of India every year for rural development.”
“My philosophy is be liberal in giving funds, but be ruthless in ensuring accountability and transparency regarding expenditure. We are putting a system in place to achieve it” Ramesh said.
The CAG will also carry out performance audit of central government- funded NREGA scheme in eleven states of the country including Bihar, Orissa, UP, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh for the last two financial years. The last performance audit of NREGA implementation was carried out in 2006-07.
The Minister admitted that the main hurdle in implementing NREGA was not duplication as widely alleged, but delay in payment to beneficiaries through their accounts in Post Offices and banks. “The payments to NREGA beneficiaries need to be made within 15 days of completion of work, but in many states it takes around six months. We have to remove the delay in payment to make the scheme more popular.”
He said Tamil Nadu was the only state in the country where payment to NREGA beneficiaries made in cash, but that should be done away with.
Ramesh said, “Increasing agricultural wage is the most important way to improve rural economy and NREGA has contributed a lot towards increasing agricultural wages in the country.”