MP govt to appoint 21 Lokpals for transparency in MNREGS

The decision to appoint 21 Lokpals under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) was taken by the state cabinet at its meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here, official sources said.

The Lokpals will ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of various development works being carried out under the scheme and take cognisance of several complaints of irregularities, specially on the issue of payment of wages, they said.

After conducting a probe into the complaints, the Lokpals will forward their recommendations against the concerned officials to the state government, sources added.

The cabinet also gave its nod to create 6,962 posts in different departments, including 5,000 in the police department.

The government also decided to create 26 new sub-divisions for administrative convenience and accordingly sanctioned posts of 34 deputy collectors and related staffs, including that for newly-created Singrauli and Alirajpur districts.

According to them, the cabinet also decided to open two new government engineering colleges in Shahdol and Jhabua districts under the Rajiv Gandhi Technological University and will provide land free of cost to the university.

It also took a number of other decisions including constitution of a Cabinet Committee on Investment Promotion for the quick disposal of investment proposals and continue with the excise arrangements of 2012-13 in 2013-14 as well, with some amendments, the sources added.