Uttar Pradesh government issued notice in rural jobs scam

LUCKNOW - The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court Friday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in connection with alleged large-scale bungling in the execution of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in the state.

A division bench of Justice Pradeep Kant and Justice Rituraj Awasthi sought the reply while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by local journalist Jagdish Narain Shukla and fixed May 15 as the date of hearing in the case.

The petition sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds allocated towards the scheme that guarantees employment of at least 100 days in a year to all landless labourers living in rural areas.

The misappropriation was unearthed during a survey carried out by the central government. It included purchase of toys worth Rs.one crore out of the MNREGS funds by the district magistrate of Gonda in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The chief development officer of Kanpur was also charged with spending Rs.64 lakh towards purchase of laptops out of the fund.

The petitioner also sought to draw the court’s attention to payment for 1,102 days to certain labourers as against 100 days in poverty-ridden Mahoba district in the state’s most backward Bundelkhand region.

“I have also urged the high court to direct the state government to furnish all documents and records before the court to expose the sham action,” the petitioner told IANS here Friday.

According to him: “Soon after the scam was brought to light, the state suspended some officials, who were quietly reinstated within the next few weeks.”

“I am, therefore, strongly of the view that only a CBI probe can bring the guilty to book,” he stressed.