“There is a multi-crore scam in the EGS scheme. There needs to be CID inquiry to look into it,” BJP MLC Vinod Tawde said in the Legislative Council on Thursday.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work – related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of Rs100.
Tawde said he had came across discrepancies in the way the scheme was being implemented when he visited the tribal areas of Jawhar and Mokhada.
“I logged into the NREGA website which stated that certain people were given work and paid money in the area. However, people whose names were given, including graduates and teachers, said they never received the money,” Tawde said.
Tawde also presented in the council sworn affidavits of the residents.
The BJP alleged that people were milking crores of rupees in connivance with politicians and bureaucrats. “In many cases, papers have been forged to show that people were given work under the scheme,” Tawde said.
The BJP leader said on confronting the officials in the area, he was informed that a cut from the money went to higher authorities as well.
Four years after the scheme has come into force, Maharashtra’s share has declined from 22 crore man hours to 2.5 crore man hours, Tawde claimed.