NREGS benefits 2.8 lakh workers in Anantapur district

Anantapur: As many as 2.80 lakh workers, who are the job card holders, are being benefitted by National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Anantapur district. The number of beneficiaries is likely to increase to 4 lakh workers as MNREGS is being extended to horticulture, sericulture, animal husbandry and fisheries schemes in the 2018-19 fiscal. 

Last year Rs.297.85 crores had been disbursed to 2.80 lakh workers in the form of wages and Rs.203.05 crores on materiel component. Altogether Rs.500.90 crore were spent on labour and on materiel in building social infrastructure. In the current 2018-19 year, Rs.100 crores had so far been spent on wages component. The target for the current year is Rs.302 crores under wages component.

As part of creating social infrastructure, 532 km of cc roads were laid in villages last year apart from building 400 Anganwadi buildings. In the current year a target was fixed to lay 640 km of cc roads under the NREGS scheme. As of now 232 km of roads had been laid while the remaining will be completed by the end of present fiscal.

District Water Management Agency (DWAMA) Project Director Jyothyi Basu said to ‘The Hans India’ that there is scope for extending NREGS works for solid waste management programme in panchayats, building of shandies in mandals and for establishment of children parks. He said that the NREGS is immensely contributing to creation of community assets.

In the previous year, works worth Rs 549.33 crore were taken up. They include 24 Stree Sakthi bhavans, planting 1 crore saplings as part of social forestry, maintenance of plantations in 30,110 acres, 500 water troughs for cattle, promotion of mulberry plantations in 1,000 acres and in execution of 31 solid waste management projects in rural areas.   

The wage rate being paid to men and women workers include Rs 194 per day apart from other allowances. District Collector Veera Pandian's resolve to achieve the feat of transforming NREGS work force into a community and nation-building work force and the commitment of DWMA Project Director in monitoring of the project through his field visits and motivating his subordinate staff. NREGS has 2 lakh women worker force.