Bhubaneswar, March 23: The Orissa government today said that there was no need for a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities detected in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

“However, we will abide by the Supreme Court’s direction on the issue. If the court orders any form of inquiry by any agency, we will abide by that,” panchayati raj minister Prafulla Samal said today in the Assembly.

On March 11, the Supreme Court pulled up the state government on its failure and indicated that a CBI inquiry should be ordered into the alleged misappropriation and irregularities. The court has given four weeks time to the Centre to make its stand clear on the order of a CBI inquiry. “If the Centre does not step in, we will step in,” it stated.The court was hearing a PIL, filed in 2007 by the Centre for Environment and Food Security, alleging large siphoning off funds from the NREGS.

Initiating the adjournment motion, Congress MLA Naba Kishora Das said: “Large-scale corruption were detected in the implementation of the scheme. Money was withdrawn even against the dead and lakhs of ghost job card-holders had benefited from the scheme. The state government is not taking any action. It should be transparent and order a CBI probe,” Das said.

Congress MLA Bhujabala Majhi and others said the scheme had been launched for the poor. “At a time, when the scheme is being lauded at all India level, the money in Orissa is being looted,” Majhi said.

Samal, in his reply to the motion, said: “As many as 566 people have already been arrested in this connection and vigilance has lodged 88 cases. Moreover, cases were filed against 205 people.”