Involve women, NGOs for social audit of NREGA, Bharat Nirman: Sonia

New Delhi, Nov 1 (UNI) UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi today called upon states to effectively implement development programmes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Bharat Nirman by involving women and NGOs in their social auditing.

In her Valedictory Address at the National Workshop of State Secretaries and District Programme Coordinators of areas where NREGA is being implemented, Ms Gandhi said that programmes for the upliftment of the poor people were the priority of the UPA government and there would be no fund crunch for programmes like Bharat Nirman, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Backward Area Development Programme.

However, effective implementation of these programmes could only take place if the people kept a watch on them, she said and stressed the need for involving women and NGOs in the social auditing of these programmes. She asked the states lagging behind in implementing Bharat Nirman and NREGA to do more to uplift the status of rural people.

She said the historic Right to Information Act passed by UPA government was the biggest tool in the hands of people to ensure effective implementation of the programmes.

Pointing out that 200 districts where NREGA was being implemented at present were each getting Rs 100 crore annually, she called the state and district functionaries to utilise the funds properly so that the living standards of people could be improved. Programmes like water conseration and wasteland development under NREGA would change the rural landscape, she said.

The UPA Chairperson lauded Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh for properly implementing NREGA during the past nine months and said the District Programme Coordinators would have to play a crucial role in implementing it at the grassroot level.

Meanwhile, the ministry is planning to extend NREGA to more districts of the country and has written the Planning Commission to identify the districts where work in the second phase of the programme could start. At present, the NREGA is being implemented in 200 districts and the Centre plans to cover all the 600 districts, Dr Singh informed.

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