All is not well with the rural employment guarantee scheme NREGA. This admission comes not from the civil society groups but from the National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson and Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi.

 "I want to share some of my concerns with you. There are reports that NREGA funds are being spent on other works. Reports of forged job cards, fake muster rolls, and fake names of labourers have come to light," she said at a function to mark five years of Mahatma Gandhi National in the capital.

"Complaints about jobs and goods which are there only on paper, buying of very low quality goods and late payment of wages have also been heard," Gandhi said.

Expressing concern about the callous and indifferent district officials she said the present system of hearing and solving complaints of the people is not fully satisfactory.

She also expressed her unhappiness at the lack of basic facilities at the workplace due to which many women avoid going for work.

She however put the blame for the shortcomings on state governments.

"These are shortcomings which state governments should look into and take strict and prompt action to solve them," Gandhi said.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, official announced the wage hike for NREGA workers.

"We have decided to hike the wages as per the rise in consumer price index. This will raise the wages by 17 to 30 percent," Singh said.