Times of India: Jaipur: Thursday,
May 09, 2013.
The Rajasthan
government has once again come under sharp criticism for failing in providing
protection to Right to Information (RTI) activists and not establishing
independent directorate for social audits in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Union minister for rural development,
Jairam Ramesh wrote a strong worded letter urging chief minister Ashok Gehlot
to take strict action against the culprits and take serious steps in ensuring
social audit.
Reacting on
the attacks made on Mangalaram of Barmer, Dhuraram of Bikaner and two other RTI
activists in the state, Ramesh asked the CM to register criminal case against
the assailants. The minister has also asked the CM to provide compensation to
these activists, endorsing their fighting spirit.
"Mangalaram
is unemployed for the past two years while Dhuraram is unable to walk because
of the assault on him. This has led to serious crisis of livelihood in these
families. These people should be given due compensation. This way government
can recognize their efforts for fighting against corruption," said Ramesh
in his letter to Gehlot.
In his
recommendations the minister also asked the state government to establish an
independent directorate for social audits in NREGA. "I want to reiterate the
importance of social audits in working structure of NREGA. The RTI activists
will not come under direct attack if we have such a directorate to find flaws
and take strict action against the miscreants," added Ramesh.
The state is
yet to form such a body in the state. In the past two years, out of 9,000 only
44 panchayats have come under social audit and that too partially. In no case
has recovery of embezzlement been registered and recovery made.
The minster
also condemned the state government for allowing sarpanchs to remain free from
criminal proceedings when they deposited misappropriated amount of Rs 3 lakh
under NREGA in Barmer. Citing the example of Ajmer, the minister's letter
talked of hindering the audits and in some cases even manipulating the reports.
In several other cases no recovery could be made from the sarpanchs because of
the faulty and incomplete social audit report.
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