NREGA attendance marking: Loopholes found in 10 districts

Jaipur: The rural development department has discovered widespread irregularities in 10 districts regarding the marking of attendance for workers under the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) in MGNREGA work. The districts include Karauli, Rajsamand, Nagaur, Jhalawar, Barmer, Churu, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, Ajmer, and Banswara.
Previously, the department had sent letters to these districts, instructing the collectors and chief executive officers (CEOs) of zila parishads to address the issue and take action against the junior technical assistants (JTAs), mates, and gram panchayat officials involved.
Under this system, daily worker attendance and their photos are uploaded directly from the worksite onto the NMMS app. Attendance can only be recorded at the location where the work is being conducted. On April 21, instructions were given to all districts to conduct random reviews of the worker attendance recorded on the muster roll and the photos uploaded on the NMMS app at both the district and block levels.
According to an official from the department, between April 26 and May 7, letters were sent to these 10 districts pointing out discrepancies between the worker attendance recorded on the muster roll and the photos uploaded on the app. It was noted that photos of the same person were uploaded on multiple muster rolls on the same day.
The official mentioned that it was instructed that the junior technical assistants concerned, gram panchayat officials, and mates should be dealt with according to regulations. “Notices have been issued to the mates and gram panchayat officials by the districts,” the official added.