House Committee to inspect welfare schemes

Ranchi, Sep 13: A five-member Jharkhand Assembly Committee would inspect implementation of various welfare schemes in five districts of the state from September 15.

"We will visit Bokaro, Giridih, Dhanbad, Chatra and Koderma districts to look into the actions taken on welfare schemes like MG-NREGA, old-age pension and Indira Awas," CPI (ML-Liberation) Vinod Kumar Singh, also the chairman of the District Council Panchayati Raj Committee, a permanent body of the state assembly, said today.

"We will look into whether MG-NREGA is being implemented as per the act, which has provision of providing work on demand and compensate labourers if not provided work within 15 days of applying for job," he said.

The visit assumes significance in the wake of the union Rural Development ministry reportedly setting up a committee headed by Planning Commissioner member Mihir Shah to look into issues like ensuring legal compensation for not providing work on demand, reducing distress migration from rural areas, cutting down on delays in payments to workers and improving quality of assets created under MG-NREGA schemes.

"Migration in Jharkhand has not been stopped as labourers think working outside would fetch not only more money but also timely payment," Singh claimed while referring to CAG's 2009-10 findings that only 47 per cent of the total schemes under NREGA completed during the period.

PTI