A Parliamentary standing committee has found discrepancies in MGNREGA wage distribution system and feels that the reported number of corruption cases related to it is a just tip of the iceberg.

“The number of corruption cases as reported is just a tip of the iceberg and the real situation in this regard may be more serious,” the committee said in its report on wage disbursement to labourers under MGNREGA by Post Offices for 2010-11.

The committee added that there may be a number of cases of role of middleman, ransom money demanded and the labourers getting wages lesser than the amount declared.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was introduced by the government in 2005 with the objective of enhancing livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The panel has found huge difference in the number of corruption cases registered, the number of MGNREGA accounts and the wage amount disbursed reported by Department of Post (DoP) and Department of Rural Development (DRD).

According to the panel, DRD record show total of 244 cases relating to corruption in disbursement of wages while DoP records show only 7 cases of loss and fraud related to MGNREGA accounts.

The Parliamentary panel headed by Mr Rao Inderjit Singh also found discrepancy in data reported by DoP and DRD.

The report of the Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Mr Singh, said that during 2008-09, the panel found a gap of 10 lakh accounts in the number of accounts and Rs 289.94 crore in disbursement of wages.

The panel said it had found that operational guidelines under MGNREGA were not being strictly complied with.

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