Patna, Mar 9 ( ) Bihar government announced to probe the employment-related data under MNREGA and initiate stern action against the officer concerned in case any irregularity was found in the data. Responding to a short noticed question by Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, Rural Development Minister Shravan Kumar assured that the data would be investigated and that measures would be taken if any irregularities were noted. The Minister assured that any officer furnishing wrong reply would not be spared at any cost. Through his supplementary, the leader of the opposition Tejasvi Prasad Yadav challenged the reply of the Minister who informed the house about employing 99.8 1per cent applicants under MNREGA. He said that the Minister says that 62 lakh 9 thousand applications were made for employment under MNREGA in the financial year 2021-22 2 and 61 lakh 97 thousand were provided with the employment. Referring to the real-time data available on the MNREGA website which was in the public domain, Tejaswi Yadav said that according to the website 1 crore 53 lakh people had applied under MNREGA for employment. He said that the data furnished by the Minister in the house was fake and suggested to get it cross-checked. To this Minister Shravan Kumar said that in case of any fluctuation in the data available on the website and that of the data provided by him in the reply on the floor of the house would be probed and strong action would be taken against the officer providing misleading data. The Minister said that all of the applicants do not appear at the time of allotment of work as some of them get involved in some other work. He said that even during the Covid19 pandemic 21 lakh man day was created in the state. The leader of opposition Tejasvi Yadav said that the Minister should have cross-checked the data in his chamber even before making the reply on the floor of the house. MORE RS RN
