State not utilising funds, says Joshi

Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj C.P. Joshi has accused the State government of underutilising the 100 per cent grants available for various components under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

Inaugurating a one-day workshop on �Panchayats and 15 years of decentralised development, organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Development Studies, a research body of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee here, Dr. Joshi said the Centre was providing 100 and 40 per cent of the funds to State governments for the labour and materials components under the MGNREGS. However, Kerala has utilised only 85 per cent of the funds for labour and 15 per cent for materials. �This means that the Kerala government has been making no contributions of its own to the prestigious programme, he said.