Forty percent of the NREGA budget allocation goes for procuring material (including salaries of the staff)  and the rest 60 percent is spent on the wages of the workers. It’s at the material component end that the leakages (read corruption) is reported most.

Aimed at stopping the leakages, the rural development ministry has issued a set of guidelines in reference to the procurment of material.

The guidelines, issued on November 29 to all states, are aimed at bringing efficiency, economy, transparency in matters relating to public procurement and for fair and equitable treatment of suppliers and promotion of competition in public procurement.

According to the new guidelines the public procurement must confirm to the following yardsticks.
•    The specification in terms of quality, type, as also quantity of goods to be procured, should be clearly spelt out keeping in view the specific needs of the procuring organisation. The specifications so worked out should meet the basic needs of the implementinmg agency without including superfluous and non essential features which may result in unwarranted expenditure. Care should be also be taken to avoid purchasing quanities in excess of requirement to avoid inventory carrying costs.
•    Offer should be invited following a fair, transparent and reasonable procedure.
•    The implementing agency authority should be satisfied that the selected offer adequatelly meets the requirements in all respect.
•    The implementing authority should satisfy itself that price of the selected offer is reasonable and consistent with the quality required.
•    At each stage of procurement the concerned implementing agency must place on record, in precise terms, the considerations that weighed with it while taking the procurement decision.
•    The items/material proposed to be procured should strictly be for the permissible works under NREGA.
•    All procurement should be posted in the MIS for the monitoring quantity procured, total amount spent, the scheme for which the material procured. Date of delivery of material etc should invariably be indicated
•    While procuring material/items, principles indicated in the general financial rules may scrupulously be followed and all related records kept meticulously for scrutiny by any authority including public.