90.25 crore mandays generated under NREGA: Raghuvansh Prasad

New Delhi, May 8 (UNI) As many as 90.25 crore mandays were generated under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) during 2006-07 and its coverage will be extended to all the districts by 2009-10, according to Union Minister for Rural Development Singh.

In his opening remarks at consultative committee meeting of the ministry held here last evening, Dr Singh highlighted the achievements of the ministry under different schemes during the Tenth Plan and outlined the Eleventh Plan projections with focus on budget for the year 2007-08.

He said the 'Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana' will be submerged into NREGA in all the districts during the same period and the annual plan under the scheme will be prepared in line with the NREGA guidelines.

During the Tenth Plan, 15.72 lakh SHGs have been formed and its universalisation by bringing one member from each BPL household within the fold of SHG forms part of the Action Plan under 'Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna' (SGSY).

Under 'Indira Awas Yojna' (IAY), during the Eleventh Plan, it is proposed to construct 30 lakh houses every year and under 'Bharat Nirman', the target is to construct 60 lakh houses during 2005-2009, he said.

IAY guidelines have been changed to introduce earmarking of funds for minorities and also provision has been made under the SGSY from 2006-07 to fix separate targets for the identified minority communities.

Under 'Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna' (PMGSY), performance targets for 2007-08 are to connect 14,000 habitations and to complete a road length of 55,000 Kms, the minister said.

Under Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), action plan proposes to provide 100 per cent access to toilets in individual households during the Eleventh Plan, he informed.

The three area development programmes, namely Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP), Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and Desert Development Programame (DDP) have been merged into one programme, i.e. Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) from the current year, which will run on a national programme mode and be implemented by dedicated agencies at the national, state and district levels, Mr Singh said.

Similarly, computerisation of land records, Strengthening of Revenue Administration (SRA) and Updation of Land Records (ULR) have been merged into one scheme of National Programme for Comprehensive Land Resource Management (NPCLRM) to facilitate the process of computerisation, updating, maintenance of land records and validation of titles with a view to providing location-specific information for development planning with major focus on citizen services, he informed the meeting and invited suggestions for further improving the performance of the Rural Development programmes during the Eleventh Plan Period.

Indramoni Bora and Penumalli Madhu (Rajya Sabha members) and Madhusudan D Mistry, Aruna Kumar Vundavalli, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Bhupendrasingh Solanki, Rupatai Diliprao N Patil, Sippiparai A Ravichandran, C S Sujatha, Shailendra Kumar, Sugrib Singh, Jyotirmoyee Sikdar and E Poonuswany (Lok Sabha members) participated in the discussion.

The meeting was attended by Ministers of State for Rural Development Suryakanta Patil and Chandrasekhar Sahu. The Secretary (RD), Secretary (DWS) and some senior officers of the ministry also attended the meeting.

UNI