Social audit public hearing for govt. schemes held in Wokha

DIMAPUR — The first phase of the FY 2023–24 social audit district-level public hearing for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (implemented in FY 2022-23) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (implemented in FY 2019–20) was held in Wokha on July 13.

It was organised by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Wokha, in collaboration with the Nagaland State Social Audit Agency (NSSAA), Social Audit Unit Nagaland, at the DC conference hall, according to an update.

For the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a total of 26 villages were audited under the Sanis RD Block and Ralan RD Block, namely: Upper Baghty, Soku, Sunglup, Yongchucho, Morakjo, Longtsung, Ashaa, Pangti, Yanthanro, Sungro, Okotso, Aree Old, Aree New (Sanis), Tchujangphen, S. Wochayan, Yanlum, Wochan, Changdalashung B, Ronsuyan, Soshan, Ralan Old, Lishayan, Yanpha, Woroku, Ralan New, and Yankeli (Ralan).

For the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), a total of seven villages were audited, namely: Ralan (Ralan Block), Sungro, Okogtso, Aree New, Pangti, Aree Old, and Longtsung (Sanis), covering 63 beneficiaries.

The programme was chaired by APC, DRDA, Wokha, Mathew Yhome, who in his address urged the functionaries to take corrective measures based on the social audit findings.

Imlirenla Sanglir, assistant director of NSSAA, Social Audit Unit Nagaland, informed in her introductory speech that the first phase of social audit for FY 2024–25 under MGNREGS and PMAY-G under the RD department has been carried out across all districts except Mokokchung.

She further informed that the social audit of other schemes like PM Poshan and Samagra Shiksha under the Education department, NSAP under the Social Welfare department, and several schemes under the department of Social Justice and Empowerment will be audited during this financial year.

While expounding on the PMAY-G scheme, she discussed the opportunities and possibilities of converging with other schemes to provide basic amenities to PMAY-G homes. These include SBM-G for constructing toilets, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana for LPG connections, NRDWP for providing clean drinking water, and MGNREGS for employment during PMAY-G house construction.

She also briefed on the review of social audit findings and implored the implementing agency and the programme functionaries to execute the scheme in consonance with the Ministry guidelines.

Sangmou Khiamniungan, EAC, Wokha HQ, represented the district administration as an observer. He emphasised the importance of proactive disclosure to maintain transparency in the implementation of the programme.

Resource persons Vezokholu Khusoh (DRP) and Imtimar (DRP) presented the social audit findings, which were reviewed during the hearing.

The MGNREGS findings highlighted issues such as mismatches between records in the Management Information System (MIS) and RD Block official records, the non-conduct of Rozgar Diwas, failure to maintain three phases of photographs, inadequate maintenance of the detailed Citizen Information Board (CIB), poor upkeep of job cards, and issues related to the shelf of projects and job cards.

Accordingly, rectifications were proposed by the concerned BDO and the programme functionaries. Resolutions were also adopted to implement corrective measures based on the social audit findings.

A total of INR 90,072 (for 417 mandays at INR 216 each) was recovered by the Social Audit team during the verification process. This amount was related to payments made under the categories of deceased individuals, job cards belonging to government-employed persons, and migration job cards.

The recovered amount was handed over to the project director, DRDA, for onward deposit into the State Employment Guarantee Fund (SEGF) in accordance with MoRD guidelines.

BDOs, staff, officials from the DRDA, MGNREGA, PMAY-G beneficiaries, village functionaries, and VLOs participated in the meeting.