Active involvement of people in Rural Development Programmes: Raghuvansh Prasad Singh

New Delhi, Sept 23 : Union Minister for Rural Development Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has asked the States to ensure peoples representatives active involvement in Rural Development programmes.

Addressing the 19th meeting of State Nodal Officers to review the performance of Centrally sponsored Rural Development Programmes here today, he laid emphasis on the convening of vigilance and monitoring committee meetings on a regular basis.

Expressing satisfaction over the performance of the states till August this year he underlined the need of paying extra attention on the Rural Development schemes in North East States as these areas are of strategic importance.

Dr. Singh reiterated on the entire wage payment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) through Bank or Post Offices accounts from October 1.He said any payment other than this mode is liable to be considered as illegal.

He also laid stress on the online reporting of data's and asked the States to comply with the instructions issued in this regard.

Dr. Singh also emphasized strengthening of grievance redressal system at all levels.

He said the vigilance and monitoring committee meetings must also be regularly held at the District, the Block and the Gram Panchayat level.

Dr. Singh also took stock of the status of availability of MPRs or QPRs under major Rural Development programmes like the NREGA, the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY), the Indra Awas Yojana (IAY) and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the Rural Water Supply under the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP), the sanitation activities under TSC and the programmes devised for the Drought Prone areas and the arid or semi arid areas of the country.

ANI