Rs 40 crore being spent under NREGS in HP

Shimla, June 24 (UNI) The Himachal Pradesh Government has spent a sum of Rs 40 crore in Chamba, Sirmaur, Mandi and Kangra districts of the state under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS) for providing employment to 64,382 people.

Members of at least 4,256 households have completed 100 days of man days up to April, 2007, an official spokesman said.

The scheme aimed at reducing poverty besides checking rural urban migration by providing people work near to their villages and homes.

Its also sought to empower women, create productive assets in rural areas, empower the panchayat and create more equitable social order by changing the power equations in the rural society, he said.

Under the scheme, every household in a village was entitled for 100 days work in a year within a five km radius after securing a job card through an ordinary application.

The spokesman said that the job cards have been issued to over 99,993 rural households in the state, which include 32,487 Scheduled Caste and 20,502 Scheduled Tribe families.

The enrollment of such a huge number of people has proved that the people in rural areas have become conscious of their right and that the scheme had been a success, he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described it as the ''most important piece of legislation in Independent India'' and hoped that besides marking a new beginning for social equity and justice, it would cover the entire country in the next four or five years.

The NGRES Act was an improvement over the other scheme as it allowed for the public inspection of documents on payment of a fee and regular social audits of the scheme's implementation by the gram sabha, he said.

There was also a provision for inspection of all works by block level officials, ten per cent of works by district level officers and two per cent of works by state level officers.

The spokesman said fund transfer was being done directly to districts, which were expected to place required amounts with gram panchayats and other implementing agencies.

UNI