State govts asked to establish grievance mechanism

New Delhi, Apr 9 (UNI) The Ministry of Rural Development has asked all State Governments to establish effective 'grievance redress mechanism' at State, District and Block levels to ensure transparency and accountability under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

It is contemplating linking the fund flow under NREGA with the vigilance and monitoring measure so as to curb the instances of irregularities.

The Central Government has also established a system of grievance redress. So far, 195 complaint petitions have been received through different sources with respect to implementation of NREGA. Out of which, 108 complaints have been enquired and disposed of. About 67 complaints are still pending in different States.

The maximum number of complaints which are pending for enquiry pertains to Uttar Pradesh (18), Bihar (15) and Madhya Pradesh (11).

Five complaints in Uttar Pradesh and 2 complaints in Bihar are pending for over one year.

The States have been advised to ensure that all complaints received are duly acknowledged, acted upon and after enquiry, appropriate action is taken and follow up communicated to the applicant.

Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Union Minister of Rural Development, during the course of review of implementation of NREGA has emphasised on a total transparent system. It has been directed that the grievances of the common man must be attended as topmost priority. To ensure accountability and transparency in the grievance redress, grievance redressal rules are also being formulated as part of the NREGA guidelines so that accountability can be further fixed.

To check the grievance of misuse of funds, the Ministry has asked all the State Governments to ensure that the payment under NREGA are made through banks/post office accounts to the beneficiaries. So far, as against 3.08 crore wage seekers, 1.20 crore accounts have been opened, with Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Karnataka leading the list.

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