UP to conduct district-wise audit of NREGS

Lucknow, March 18 Twelve days before the state falls under the purview of the NREGS, the department of Rural Development will be initiating more social audits in different districts to determine problems in its implementation. The audit will lay more emphasis on a districts-wise study to determine the specific needs of each NREGS district. This was decided at the first meeting of the state employment guarantee council held on Tuesday. “Social audits will help in countering corruption in the scheme. There will be no problems in providing budgets for these audits and mass awareness,” said Rural Development minister Daddoo Prasad. In order to ensure that 39 districts where the scheme was implemented earlier are free of corruption, the government will conduct “in-depth” social audits. The department has already earmarked nine — Sonebhadra, Sitapur, Pratapgarh, Mirzapur, Jalaun, Mahoba, Lalitpur, Chitrakoot and Jhansi. The audits will be facilitated by the UP Voluntary Action Network and NGOs.