The work days under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) will be increased from 100 days to 150 days in the state soon. The financial provision for this purpose will be made from the state fund. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said this while chairing the meeting of the state employment guarantee council at the secretariat on Monday. The chief minister also launched the Ajivika app on the occasion.
The CM said that good work had been done under MNREGA in some districts. All the districts should exchange their work experience in order to bring about further improvement in the work. Rawat said that the district magistrates should review the works done under MNREGA at the district level every 15 days. Harder work is needed to compensate for the work affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
The CM directed officials that well planned work should be undertaken to facilitate the revival of water sources. GIS mapping of river revival works should also be done. Further, the average of work days under MNREGA in the districts should be increased. Special efforts should be done under MNREGA for water culture and water conservation, agriculture development, nutrition campaign, livelihood resource development and marketing facility development, said the CM.
It was decided in the meeting that works proposed by departments under state plan and district plan, which can easily be executed under MNREGA should be accorded priority under the scheme so that good use of the state plan and district plan fund can be made under some different head. Officials informed in the meeting that there are a total of 12.19 lakh job card holders under MNREGA in the state. Of these, 67.19 per cent are active job card holders. There are 58.69 per cent active labourers in the state while 53.65 per cent of the job card holders are women. In the past year the number of job card holders in the state has increased by 2.66 lakh. When it comes to timely payment of wages and job card verification, Uttarakhand is ranked second at the national level. The minimum wage for unskilled labour under MNREGA is Rs 201 per day. Further, out of the budget approved for financial year 2020-21, 80 per cent of the amount has been released.
The Rural Development and Migration Commission vice chairman Sharad Singh Negi, additional chief secretary Manisha Panwar, additional secretary Vandana Singh and other officials concerned were also present in the meeting.
