Biometric data base of MNREGA workers to be created

New Delhi, Feb 2 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Wednesday said a bio metric data base of all Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) works will be in place soon to reduce instances of discrimination in work allocation and other deficiencies in the Rural Employment rogramme

Speaking on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of MNREGA here, Dr. Singh said: "We hope it will substantially reduce instances of discrimination in work allocation, delayed payments and bogus muster rolls."

Expressing concern over problems in implementation of MNREGA in Naxal-affected areas, Dr Singh said: "Priority is being given to Left-wing extremism affected districts, and districts where the annual MNREGA expenditure is above Rs 100 crore,"

He announced that the government would establish a technical unit, comprising a panchayat development officer and a junior engineer, in each gram panchayat.

Referring to the success of this Employment Guarantee Scheme, Dr Singh asserted that implementation on the ground is a challenge.

Talking about the steps taken by the government to plug the leakages, Dr. Singh said that ten crore banks and post office accounts are now disbursing the wages to the workers.

Dr. Singh called for active involvement of people in the implementation, monitoring and social audit of the Employment Guarantee Programme.

The Prime Minister maintained that MNREGA had generated 880 crore person days of work since its inception.

"52 per cent of the work has been done by those belonging to the Scheduled Cases and Scheduled Tribes and 47 per cent by women," he said. (ANI)