Kolkata, Nov 14 After having suffered negative consequences of freezing of central funds for the 100-day job scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) because of alleged corruption in implementation of the scheme, the West Bengal government is now concentrating on proper mapping of job cards under the scheme.
Amid the busy schedule of state government employees because of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in West Bengal, the state panchayat affairs and rural development department have started the process of mapping job cards for the 100-day job scheme under MGNREGA.
Under this mapping work, the job cards are linked with the AADHAAR cards of the job-card holders concerned, and immediately after the linking, the details in the matter are uploaded on the MGNREGA website.
This is done to ensure that only the genuine beneficiaries will receive the money paid under the scheme. This will also bring transparency in the system and eliminate chances of misuse of central funds paid under the MGNREGA scheme.
To recall, the Union Government had stopped making payments under the MGNREGA scheme for the last three years, following which a political slugfest between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP broke out.
The Centre professed that the payment of funds was stopped amid massive corruption in the implementation of the scheme.
However, in June this year, the Calcutta High Court directed the NDA government at the Centre to make payments for the pending MGNREGA funds for West Bengal, acting on a petition filed by the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, an association of agriculture workers in the state.
The Calcutta High Court then observed that if necessary, the Union Government could set conditions for payment of MGNREGA funds for West Bengal, but could not stop payment on this count.
In July this year, the Union Government challenged the order of the Calcutta High Court in the Supreme Court. Last month, the top court’s Division Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta upheld the Calcutta High Court order and refused to intervene in the matter.
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