Congress to create awareness about job guarantee scheme

Bidar, Karnataka, Mar 2 (UNI) The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) will launch a campaign to create awareness among the rural poor about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Talking to newspersons here today, KPCC Secretary C R Narayanappa said the success of the programme depended on its implementation.

''The Panchayatiraj institutions are mainly responsible for its implementation. As these bodies are under the control of the State Government, it is finally the responsibility of the State Government to make the programme a success.'' He said KPCC President Mallikarjuna Kharge would write to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to increase the daily wages fixed under the programme. ''While the wage is fixed at Rs 110 in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 80 in Maharashtra, it is Rs 62 in Karnataka. We want this to go up,'' he added.

Mr Narayanappa said the party would form monitoring committees at the district and taluk levels to oversee the execution of the programme, being implemented in Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Chitradurga and Davanagere districts. Besides, MLAs and other senior party leaders would be made observers in charge of taluks.

He recalled that the legislation enacted to implement the scheme ensured that no Government discontinued the programme and incorporated clauses to take punitive action against erring officials and contractors.

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