Imphal, September 19, 2010: A cloud of doubt has appeared in the implementation of the central sponsored flagship programme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MGNREGS) in Manipur when state public information officer (SPIO) of Right to Information (RTI) Act could provided various doubious information regarding the implementation of the scheme.

Information received from the under secretary of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, who is also the SPIO of the RTI regarding the implementation of the MGNREGS in Thoubal, Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur have been found containing incomplete and wrong information.

Analysis based on the information provided by the SPIO seems to indicate that the promising flagship programme could not reach the rural poor who are the mandatory beneficiaries of 100 days of work in a year guaranteed in the National Employment Generation Scheme Act.

With no concrete information of the implementation of the scheme in the four valley districts, the status of the implementation of the scheme in the hill districts can at best be imagined.

RTI activist Ayekpam Keshorijit of Haobam Marak Irom Leikai has sought detailed information if the number of job card holders and works and jobs given to them under MGNREGS scheme in the four valley districts of the state under the RTI Act 2005. He sought the information on the implementation of the scheme in the four valley districts being implemented through the gram panchayat.

He sought the number of days worked by the card holders in each gram panchayat during the year 2008-09, 2009-2010 and 2010-11 with the number of job card issued during the same period.

He further sought information about the fund released during the period for the scheme.

When he was not satisfied with the information provided by the SPIO, he made an appeal to the first appellate authority of RTI, to the additional chief secretary but again he found information regarding to the implementation of the scheme in 25 gram pnachayats under the Imphal East CD Block-II and Jiribam gram panchayat were not provided.

For Imphal west also information for 28 gram panchayat of Imphal west CD block-1 and 18 gram panchayat in CD Block-II were left out in the information sheets.

Likewise information for 29 gram panchayats for Thoubal DC Block and 12 for Kakching CD block were not included.

Further there was no a single information for Bishnupur district.

Not satisfied with the incomplete information provided, the activist had again applied a complete detail information.

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