PNS | Nabarangpur
Thousands of youth Congress activists were taken into custody while they were launching a Jail Bharo agitation organised by the Odisha Pradesh Youth Congress (OPYC) on Thursday.
Demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the large-scale irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGA, the OPYC had called for the agitation in Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts.
They also demanded action against those involved, including the arrest of Jharigam BDO, Rabindra Kanhar and other officials, in the alleged corruption in MGNREGA and staged a relay hunger strike outside the block office at Jharigham in Nabarangpur.
OPYC president and Nabarangpur MP Pradeep Majhi said that the Chief Minister was responsible for the bungling as he was the chief of the State monitoring cell of the scheme with huge central funds meant for the poor. He said the highest amount of Rs 11.23 crore was spent in Jharigaon block of Nabarangpur district in the last fiscal 2010-11, but very few tangible assets, created under the scheme, could be seen there. He alleged that Rs 7 crore out of the allotted amount had been misappropriated.
Quoting a report of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India and the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, Majhi said there was large scale misappropriation of funds to the tune of 88 per cent in Nabarangpur, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, and other districts of Odisha.
Source: The Pioneer
