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Mayawati returns NREGA fire, dubs it Cong poll gimmick
The ongoing face-off between the Centre and UP Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday saw sparks flying yet again from both sides. A couple of days after Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to her alleging corruption in MGNREGA schemes in the State and warned her of a CBI probe, Mayawati returned fire by accusing the Centre of attempting to score political points in view of the impending Assembly election in the State.
In doing so, she chose to address her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instead of Ramesh — whom she accused of having a pre-conceived agenda aimed at maligning her dispensation.
“The demand of CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was raised keeping an eye on election,” she said even while rejecting the charges of corruption in the Centrally-sponsored scheme and the demand for the probe. The State investigating agencies are competent enough to punish the guilty involved in the irregularities, she asserted.
“The State Government has already initiated action in 47 cases out of total 67 cases reported. Action against around 300 people has been taken and `54 lakh has been collected as penalty from erring officials. Action against two District Magistrates is also under consideration while `1.31 crore is yet to be collected as penalty,” she pointed out. State Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh read out her letter to the media.
Ramesh as well as the Congress rejected her charge of the demand for CBI probe being “politically motivated”. Ramesh said he would not hesitate to recommend similar investigation even in Congress-ruled States and stressed there were “deliberate instances” of embezzlement funds in UP and “overwhelming” evidence against officials.
“There is no politics involved. My letter is based on report of NLMs (National Level Monitors) and SQM (State Quality Monitor),” Ramesh said adding he has asked for a performance audit of MGNREGA by the CAG in 12 states including four Congress-ruled states.
On his part, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singvhi flayed her for the dismal law and order situation in the State as has been revealed by the latest NCRB report in which UP tops the list with the highest crime rate of over 33 percent of the total crime registered in the country.
While Mayawati questioned the intention of Ramesh in releasing his letter to the media even before it reached her, the Congress pointed out she has done the same by releasing it to the press before it reached the PM.
On Ramesh’ threat of withholding release of funds under MGNREGA, Mayawati said funds released by Centre were not a largesse but form a part of the revenue sharing mechanism under federal system. “It would be appropriate, if the Minister is apprised of the Centre-state fiscal arrangements provided in our Constitution. It is obvious that Ramesh has a pre-conceived agenda and has arrived at the conclusions without taking any cognisance of the steps taken by state government,” she said.
She also criticised Ramesh for comparing MGNREGA with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in the state. ‘’Ramesh should know that NRHM does not come under his ministry,’’ she wrote.
“After talking to an NGO of Chitrakoot and citing some incidents in seven districts the Union Minister was making wild guess about the progress of this scheme in all the 75 districts. The Union Minister should have taken progress report of all districts before making these wild allegations,” Mayawati said and requested the PM to intervene in the issue.
Ramesh had accused the Mayawati government of directly abetting in embezzlement of funds meant for the MGNREGA and had asked the UP government to recommend a CBI probe into the fraud ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Ramesh maintained that criminal conspiracies in four districts were as scandalous as was the case of the NRHM which the CBI was probing. He had also alleged that irregularities have hit the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur, and Kushinagar districts.
The ongoing face-off between the Centre and UP Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday saw sparks flying yet again from both sides. A couple of days after Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to her alleging corruption in MGNREGA schemes in the State and warned her of a CBI probe, Mayawati returned fire by accusing the Centre of attempting to score political points in view of the impending Assembly election in the State.
In doing so, she chose to address her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instead of Ramesh — whom she accused of having a pre-conceived agenda aimed at maligning her dispensation.
“The demand of CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was raised keeping an eye on election,” she said even while rejecting the charges of corruption in the Centrally-sponsored scheme and the demand for the probe. The State investigating agencies are competent enough to punish the guilty involved in the irregularities, she asserted.
“The State Government has already initiated action in 47 cases out of total 67 cases reported. Action against around 300 people has been taken and `54 lakh has been collected as penalty from erring officials. Action against two District Magistrates is also under consideration while `1.31 crore is yet to be collected as penalty,” she pointed out. State Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh read out her letter to the media.
Ramesh as well as the Congress rejected her charge of the demand for CBI probe being “politically motivated”. Ramesh said he would not hesitate to recommend similar investigation even in Congress-ruled States and stressed there were “deliberate instances” of embezzlement funds in UP and “overwhelming” evidence against officials.
“There is no politics involved. My letter is based on report of NLMs (National Level Monitors) and SQM (State Quality Monitor),” Ramesh said adding he has asked for a performance audit of MGNREGA by the CAG in 12 states including four Congress-ruled states.
On his part, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singvhi flayed her for the dismal law and order situation in the State as has been revealed by the latest NCRB report in which UP tops the list with the highest crime rate of over 33 percent of the total crime registered in the country.
While Mayawati questioned the intention of Ramesh in releasing his letter to the media even before it reached her, the Congress pointed out she has done the same by releasing it to the press before it reached the PM.
On Ramesh’ threat of withholding release of funds under MGNREGA, Mayawati said funds released by Centre were not a largesse but form a part of the revenue sharing mechanism under federal system. “It would be appropriate, if the Minister is apprised of the Centre-state fiscal arrangements provided in our Constitution. It is obvious that Ramesh has a pre-conceived agenda and has arrived at the conclusions without taking any cognisance of the steps taken by state government,” she said.
She also criticised Ramesh for comparing MGNREGA with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in the state. ‘’Ramesh should know that NRHM does not come under his ministry,’’ she wrote.
“After talking to an NGO of Chitrakoot and citing some incidents in seven districts the Union Minister was making wild guess about the progress of this scheme in all the 75 districts. The Union Minister should have taken progress report of all districts before making these wild allegations,” Mayawati said and requested the PM to intervene in the issue.
Ramesh had accused the Mayawati government of directly abetting in embezzlement of funds meant for the MGNREGA and had asked the UP government to recommend a CBI probe into the fraud ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Ramesh maintained that criminal conspiracies in four districts were as scandalous as was the case of the NRHM which the CBI was probing. He had also alleged that irregularities have hit the scheme in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Sant Kabir Nagar, Mirzapur, and Kushinagar districts.
