Govt blacklists 600 NGOs, lodges FIR, CBI inquiry for corruption

New Delhi, Jun 13 (UNI) The government has blacklisted 600 NGOs, lodged FIR against 21 and ordered CBI inquiry against ten voluntary organisations for indulging in corrupt practices and financial irregularities.

Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said here that the action was taken following the report of about 4000 files relating to unaccounted funds disbursed to voluntary organisations going missing from the office of the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART).

He said that about Rs 23 lakh has been recovered from some of these NGOs. However, according to CAPART's internal inquiry estimates that the recoverable amount, details of which may have been lost forever, could run into hundreds of crores.

Dr Singh said that with reports of mass corruption involving funds being given to voluntary organisation, the ministry first considered scrapping CARPART itself but since many of these NGOs are doing good work, ultimately it was decided to clean up the system.

Internal inquiry revealed that many of the files were missing and some people had taken funds in the name of several NGOs which were existing just on papers.

Asked about the steps being taken by the ministry to remove the massive corruption involving voluntary organisations, he said that system was being streamlined and from now onwards, all the application for funding was to be made on line with photographs and proper verification would be done before sanctioning any money.

Meanwhile, regarding the controversial sanctioning of SEZs despite protests by farmers, Dr Singh said he had already prepared the draft of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy which was now pending with the Group of Ministers headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. He said the policy was likely to be cleared in the next few weeks.

More UNI