289 officials lost jobs due to MGNREGA irregularities in Bihar

Altogether 289 officials have lost their job on the charge of irregularities in implementation of MGNREGA in Bihar, the Legislative Council was informed today.
5,166 others have been served show cause notices for irregularities in executing the rural employment guarantee scheme in the state, Cooperative Minister Ramadhar Singh said in reply to a question.
316 FIRs have been registered in this connection, the minister said.
For promoting transparency in implementation of the scheme, a grievance redressal committee has been set up under the Development Commissioner for efficient implementation of the MGNREGA project, he said.
Citing the irregularities that have been detected in the scheme, the government had said of a total of 1.27 crore job cards issued, 20 lakh were found to be "fake".

The process of verification of such cards was on, Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra had said in the Legislative Assembly last week.
Opposition RJD and Congress have been alleging widespread irregularities in MGNREGA scheme implementation in Bihar and have demanded central probe into it.