JAMMU: “In a historic achievement J&K is well on target to complete around 2 lakh works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) this financial year.” This information was given out in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta to review the performance of the Rural Development Department & Panchayati Raj schemes implemented in the UT of J&K.
Besides the Administrative Secretary, RD&PR the meeting was attended by the Administrative Secretaries of Agriculture Production and Farmers Welfare Department; Jal Shakti; Forest; PWD; Labour& Employment; IT & Information; Revenue; Health; YS&S; Secretary in RDD; HoDs of Agriculture and Rural Development Departments.
The meeting was informed that as compared to previous years the Department has this year set a very high target of 2 lakh works for it and the Department is expecting to achieve it also. It was revealed that the in the current financial year so far the Department has generated more than 2.82 Cr person days of work for the inhabitants of the rural population.
It also came to the fore during the meeting that during the past years, the number of works completed used to be far less than what has been achieved this year so far. It was given out that during the year 2018-19, the number of works completed under MGNREGA were a mere 26,352 and increased substantially in the coming years. The number nearly doubled and reached 54,311 works in the next year of 2019-20 thereby taking a leap reaching 67,278 in 2020-21, 84,705 in 2021-22, and this year the scheme already crossed 1,71,824 mark in the number of works completed taking a plunge of more than 200% so far, the meeting was informed.
This remarkable number of completed works has been achieved at the expenditure of Rs 931.16 Cr. It was further given out that the percentage of women person-days hovered at around 30.35% thereby extending an opportunity to the women for their empowerment through employment. The meeting was also apprised that nearly 9 lakh persons belonging to around 6.84 lakh households worked under this scheme to earn their livelihood.
It is pertinent to mention here that the average wage rate per day per person was hiked last year from Rs 213.94 to Rs 226.78 and the payments are made exclusively through online mode directly into the accounts of the workers. Most of the payments had been made in just 15 days after the completion of work, the meeting was apprised.
Regarding the next year’s plan, it was revealed that the Department has proposed around 2,71,474 works which include 1,07,249 (40%) of works related to natural resources management, 80,522 works of creation of individual assets for vulnerable sections, 82334 works of rural infrastructure besides others.
The Chief Secretary applauded the Department for this unique achievement and asked them to raise their bar of expectation in the coming years besides the efficiency of achieving the targets. He enjoined upon them to utilize this opportunity under the LG administration in bringing about necessary reforms regarding transparency, responsibility, and accountability in the system thereby achieving new heights in serving the people freely as per their expectations and requirements.
