Audit body mooted to make NREGS transparent

BHUBANESWAR: In the wake of CBI probe into the rural job scam, the Government is seriously contemplating to create a separate Directorate of Social Audit under the Panchayati Raj department.The objective of the directorate is to put a dedicated machinery in place to bring in transparency and accountability in the implementation of the massive wage employment programme under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). A proposal, submitted by the Panchayati Raj department, is under the consideration of the Government, said a senior officer.The proposed Directorate of Social Audit will be a registered body under the Societies Registration Act. It will have the freedom to recruit professionals on contractual basis. Expenditure of the staff to be recruited will be met by NREGS fund, the officer said.Meanwhile, the Government has directed the district collectors and  the project directors of the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) to ensure that the social audit on projects implemented under NREGS is conducted twice a year.Many districts have reportedly failed to take up social audit, which is mandatory under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The issue was discussed at a recent conference of DRDA project directors here.Irregularities detected in the rural job scheme could have been checked to a great extent had social audit been conducted in a time-bound manner, the officer admitted.The Government had issued detailed guidelines on social audit under NREGS in November 2009 following instructions from the Ministry of Rural Development.All the districts have been directed to constitute village-level social audit committee (SACs) consisting of 10 members. The committee will have representation from the scheduled categories, members from women SHGs, social activists and a representative from a local NGO. The gram sabhas will nominate members, normally NREGS workers, to the village-level committee. The committee, valid for one year, will be formed before February each year.The executing agencies will apprise the committee of the work estimate, time-frame and quality parameters. The committee will supervise work at all the stages __ from registration of families seeking wage employment to completion of the project.It will furnish a final report of the work within a week of completion of the project. The report will then be placed before the gram sabha. The gram sabha will send the report to the block development officer. Since social audit provides scope for public vigilance during project implementation, its review has been made mandatory and the gram sabha will meet once in six months for the purpose.