House witnesses noisy scenes on NREGA
The Assam Assembly today witnessed a ruckus during the discussion on the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in the State during the Question Hour. Replying to questions, State Panchayat and Rural Development (P & RD) Minister Chandan Brahma said the scheme was being implemented in its true spirit, benefiting the poor rural masses. The Opposition members, however, alleged that massive corruption was going on in the name of allocation of job cards under the NREGA, with middlemen and contractors being involved in the scheme. AGPLP leader Chandra Mohan Patowary said: "Even people from families that have Government job holders have been given job cards.' AGP member Keshab Mahanta, CPI-M members Ananta Kalita and Uddhab Barman, CPI member Dhrupad Buragohain and BJP member Ranjit Dutta alleged massive corruption in the distribution of job cards. Brahma, however, refuted the allegations and asked the Opposition to bring discrepancies, if any, to his notice. He said that 14 districts of the State that were not covered by the NREGA till 2007-08 would be brought under the scheme from the next fiscal, thereby extending the benefits of the scheme to all districts of the State. The minister further said that of the total Rs 72,883.93 lakh available for NREGA implementation during 2007-08 (up to January 2008), Rs 34,223.44 lakh had been spent. For the year 2005-06, of the total Rs 25,147.79 lakh made available, Rs 10,519.65 lakh was spent, whereas for 2006-07, Rs 57,987.40 lakh of the available Rs 70,772.10 lakh was spent.