NE grabs Rs 171.16 crore under NREGA

Aizawl, Sep 13: The Ministry of Rural Development, has already released Rs 171.16 crore to North Eastern states, including Sikkim, for implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) during 2006-07.

According to the latest record, Asom received the highest fund of Rs 13970.84 lakh followed by Tripura Rs 1456.66 lakh, Mizoram Rs 298.90 lakh, Arunachal Pradesh Rs 272.85 lakh, Manipur Rs 570.89 lakh, Meghalaya Rs 64.68 lakh, Nagaland Rs 430.11 lakh and Sikkim Rs 451.50 lakh under the NREGA.

Official sources here today said the Ministry has expressed satisfaction over the success of NREGA in the NE region. '' every district of the region is entitled to apply for further instalments of funds after reporting demand for work and utilisation of fund released'', they added.

The NREGA has focus on water conservation and out of 2,60,332 works, 1,41,085 were exclusively for water conservation while 16,727 works were taken up for plantation in drought-prone areas in India.

Besides, 3391 projects for flood control, 43,859 for rural connectivity and other works have been taken up across the country during 2006-07, financial year, the sources added.

UNI