Bhubaneswar: Taking note of financial irregularities, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has blacklisted 924 NGOs, including 289 from Odisha, this year.
These 289 blacklisted NGOs in the state have no official address and are running on pen and paper only, the Ministry informed.
Most of the blacklisted NGOs are working in Dhenkanal, Nayagarh and Koraput districts.
The Ministry, which is in the process of blacklisting some other NGOs, has stopped financial assistance to some NGOs for gross misuse of funds.
It may be mentioned that the Ministry had earlier received complaints on gross misutilisation of Central and overseas funds by some NGOs in the country. The Ministry, after conducting an audit, had blacklisted about 1000 NGOs.
In order to rein in these NGOs, the Ministry is going to frame stringent rules to keep a watch on their modus operandi, sources said.
It is worthwhile here to mention that the Home Ministry has directed the NGOs, registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) and receiving foreign donations, to register with the DARPAN portal of the Niti Aayog.
However, it is found that most of these NGOs have not registered with the said portal till date.
