Ministries spar over expenses on rural job scheme

Shortage of staff affecting implementation, says rural development ministry

The rural development ministry is in tussle with the finance ministry over raising the ceiling on administrative expenses in the implementation of the National Employment Guarantee Scheme.

The rural development ministry wants the limit raised to 6 per cent from 2 per cent. The finance ministry has agreed on hiking it to 4 per cent. The matter is before the expenditure finance committee of the finance ministry.

Senior rural ministry officials say raising the ceiling will lead to better implementation of the scheme.

"We are not asking for any additional amount. It is just a dispute over the margin for administrative expenses," an official said.

The total allocation for the scheme this year was Rs 11,300 crore. If a state is allocated Rs 100 crore, it can use 2 per cent of the amount for adminsitrative costs like vehicles, training and staff, say officials.

This was one of the major demands by some members of the statutory employment guarantee council at its first meeting last week. In a letter to the council by members Jean Dreze and Annie Raja of the National Federation of Indian Women, a demand was raised for adequate staff and more administrative expenses.

The latter has been recommended by numerous committees, including the technical advisory group on NREGA convened by the ministry, the letter pointed out.

The increase would also take care of the shortage of staff. The Act allows appointment of a gram rojgar sewak at the village level, but this will require money, according to Raja.

"The responsibilities of the programme officer at the Block level have typically been assigned to the block development officer or other officers who are already overworked. Similarly, most state governments are yet to appoint gram rozgar sevaks at the gram panchayat level. Without adequate staff, NREGA cannot succeed,'' the letter signed by the two activists said.

It added, "Shortage of staff is partly a reflection of the fact that the financial allocation for administrative expenses which is yet to be raised beyond the token level of 2 per cent of total NREGA expenses."