The Public Works Department (PWD) has faltered miserably in the implementation of Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as it has so far utilised less than 10 per cent of the allotted funds. The PWD was supposed to spend Rs 800 crore under this rural job scheme but has so far spent only Rs 50 crore. This revelation was made during the review meeting presided over by the PWD Minister Nasimuddin Siddiqui here on Tuesday. Under the NREGS, the PWD constructs link roads connecting villages with the state highways using farmers as the work force. In many cases, the PWD also constructs tar roads inside villages if the project is approved by the concerned Gram Sabha. “The PWD Minister lost his cool on coming to know about the poor implementation of NREGS. Show-cause a notice was served on 12 executive engineers seeking their explanation over poor implementation of this rural job scheme,” a senior official, who attended the meeting, said. The erring districts were identified as Balrampur, Jalaun, Shahajahanpur, Jhansi, Kanpur (city), Basti and Chitrakoot. The minister also expressed his annoyance over slow utilisation of Central Road Fund. Till September 2011, the department had utilized only 45 per cent of the fund while utilisation in a few districts including Chitrakoot, Jalaun, Jhansi, Mahoba and Farrukhabad, was even less than 29 per cent. The state government has received Rs 464.96 crore under Central Road Fund (CRF).The minister also asked the officials concerned to make all state highways free form potholes by this month-end. “If any state highway will be found damaged, action will be taken against the executive engineer concerned,” the minister said.