Rahul meets PM, talks NREGA

NEW DELHI: Continuing with his efforts to build pressure on the Centre for toning up the implementation of the NREGA, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who was instrumental in getting the scheme imple-mented in all the districts, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday to suggest measures for improving its reach and removing irritants.

The meeting has been seen as a follow-up on an earlier gathering on the same subject. Like the other members of the party top-brass, Mr Gandhi too has been unnerved by reports that the UPA government���s flagship project had simply failed to take off in most states.

There were widespread complaints of corruption and pilferage of funds, with the projected beneficiaries more often than not being left in the lurch. Even in states where the programme was doing well, it were the opposition parties which were walking away with all the credit.

These talking points, it is learnt, figured prominently in Friday���s meeting, which was attended by, besides the PM and the Congress general secretary, rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and minister of state in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan.

All agreed that pilferage of funds had to be checked and measures put in place to ensure that the programme���s benefits reached the targeted group. There was also unanimity on the need to prevent opposition parties from walking away with all the goodwill.