In order to bring in more transparency in the implementation of NREGA, the rural development ministry has issued directions to all the states that works carried out under the scheme be photographed and uploaded on its website.

“We have noticed that the majority of irregularities are reported in relation to workers getting paid for minimal or no work. So we hope the updated photos of the work are going to check this,” said a rural development ministry official.

Following is the list of instructions sent to states on July 13 in this regard.

•    In the work module of NREGA soft an option has been provided for uploading the photograph while entering the details of the work
•    The resolution and the format of the photographs should not be high. Efforts needs to be made to ensure that the size of the file is not more than 30kb
•    The system has to be so designed that it would maintain three photographs of each work/ work site for three different stages of the work cycle viz (1) before the start of the work/work site (2) during execution of the work and (3) completed work.
•     While the photograph of the worksite (before the start of the work ) and the completed work would continued to be shown on the website, the photographs of the intermediate stages would go on changing and at anytime the latest photograph would be displayed
•    If the camera has the facility of date and time stamp, the same should be enabled. However, if the camera does not have this facility, the state should be entered while entering the details of the work in the work module.
•    It is proposed to move to a system whereby the latitude and longitude could also be mentioned alongside other work details. However this would require GPS enabled equipment