Direct cash payment in NREGS to be stopped

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New Delhi, May 5: : With the CAG finding irregularities in implementation of its flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Government has decided to stop direct cash payment to the beneficiaries and open bank accounts to transfer their wages.

"We will not make payment if the beneficiary does not have a bank account. We have opened 1.45 crore accounts so far. We will cover 3.37 crore beneficiaries very soon," Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said in New Delhi.

The Minister, who was speaking after inaugurating the National Consultation on NREGA, said the move would help check any irregularity in implementation of the programme.

The CAG had stated that the systems for financial management and tracking were deficient in the NREGS.

"In case of direct payment, there is lot of scope for misappropriation. There are even instances of money being paid in the name of dead men," Singh said.

The Government would also start health insurance and life insurance schemes for the beneficiaries of NREGS, he said.

"Now, we are implementing the scheme in all 600 districts of the country. So the number of beneficiaries would increase to five crore and all of them will be covered under the insurance cover," Singh said.

Inaugurating the consultation, Singh said the NREGS has been successful in the first phase of its implementation and the number of beneficiaries under this scheme is three times more than in the employment schemes started by past Governments.

About 140 crore mandays could be created in 330 districts where is was implemented before its expansion to the entire country on April one, he said.

The Minister, however, said public awareness was still low.

Stressing on transparency, Singh said vigilance and monitoring committees need to be set up at the state level to curb any malpractice.

He appealed to the NGOs and social activists to do social auditing on the implementation of the scheme.

The Minister criticised the state governments for being "insincere" in the implementation of the scheme.

"State governments are not sincere. We do not find the states coming forward to cooperate in proper implementation of the NREGS," Singh said.

The scheme was rolled out following the passage of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Parliament in 2005.

In the first year of its implementation, the scheme covered 200 districts.