Rural development in NE successful through various schemes

New Delhi, Feb 13 (UNI) Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh today said his ministry had carried out massive and speedy development work in the North Eastern Region under various schemes.

Talking to newspersons, Dr Singh said capacity building of all stake-holders, including government functionaries, was the primary focus of the ministry as far as effective implementation of rural development programmes was concerned.

Rs 5.94 crore has been released to State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and Extension Training Centres (ETCs) on November 30 to carry out training and other capacity building activities.

Dr Singh said the ministry has identified 16 districts in the region, comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Asom, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, for implementation of schemes under the National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (NREGA).

Eighty-nine per cent of the rural households have been provided Job Cards, whereas the national average is 64 per cent.

In the current financial year, Rs 206.83 crore funds have been released to the region against the total availability of Rs 697.43 crore. Expenditure in the current financial year stands at Rs 398 crore, which is 57 per cent of the total availability. Total number of work undertaken under NREGA is 15,490 and the number of works completed is 6,856.

UNI