Officer dismissed for irregularities in MNREGA

The programming officer, who was posted at Chakia sub-division, was found guilty of depositing Rs two crore from MNREGA funds in his private bank account and distributed it among ineligible beneficiaries, National Employment Programme district officer Umashankar Ram said.

The officer had released MNREGA funds to panchayats not in the list of beneficiaries and did not maintain the cash entry register for nearly three years to account for expenditure under the central scheme, he said.

A complaint had been lodged by an ex-block pramukh following which a six-member team headed by Ram had probed the allegations of financial irregularities. A 256-page report was submitted by them to the district administration with a recommendation for dismissal of the programming officer after finding the charges to be true, Ram said.

Acting on the report, the district magistrate dismissed the man from service, he added.