NAGARKURNOOL: A day after The New Indian Express published an article stating that a total of 120 Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) workers have allegedly been declared dead in the records, the Nagarkurnool District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) officials responded to it and visited Muddunoor village in Telkapally Mandal on Tuesday.

During the visit, they inspected the NREGS records and found that the claims of the workers were true.
However, contradictory to the claims made by the workers and sources, the DRDA found that of the total 120 persons who have been declared dead, 35 had in fact passed away. Having said that, the DRDA also found that as many as 85 NREGS workers who have been declared dead in the records were actually alive and that it was a mistake committed by the local officials. Taking cognisance of this, the DRDA officials vented ire at the local authorities for the grave error.

During the inquiry, the DRDA officials assured the NREGS labourers that they would carry out a detailed inquiry into the alleged error that happened at the  Mandal Parishad Development Office (MPDO).
A report would be submitted to the higher authorities after the inquiry, based on which action would be taken against the responsible officials, the officials said.