A RICH HARVEST OF RURAL SCAMS

NREGA and Nal Se Jal leak like faulty taps in tribal Gujarat as the corrupt milk flagship social schemes

- By Jumana Shah

FOUR SCAMS IN THREE months. The tribal soil of central-eastern Gujarat has of late been quite rich with embarrassment—and worse. Judge only by the expenditure domains that are seeing corruption inquiries: the execution of flagship social sector schemes, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Dahod, Bharuch and Vadodara districts, and the Nal Se Jal scheme in Mahisagar district.

The misappropriation of funds, now being investigated, is said to have lightened the state exchequer by Rs 204 crore. The scams—Rs 71 crore in Dahod, Rs 7.3 crore in Bharuch and Rs 2.7 crore in Vadodara—reveal a near-identical pattern. Fictitious or incomplete infrastructure projects were passed off as complete for construction contractors to claim the money.

PHANTOM INFRA