The Hindu : Other States / Rajasthan News : Guidelines for drought relief works

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Monday, May 24, 2004

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Other States - Rajasthan

Guidelines for drought relief works

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MAY 23. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government in Rajasthan, which had recently launched drought relief works in three of the 32 districts, has issued guidelines for taking up these works in the areas identified as scarcity-hit. The relief works have been confined to Bhilwara, Rajsamand and Udaipur districts.

According to the official sources, the relief works helping in rainwater harvesting in the coming monsoon, enhancing the ground water table and improving agricultural productivity will be accorded the highest priority during the current summer season. The works would be organised in such a manner that labourers engaged in a given village do not have to travel long distances.

The Government orders have specified that the relief works would first be started in those villages where crops have been damaged continuously for the past several years. Moreover, the works would be of such nature which can be completed within a stipulated time-frame. The relief works will mainly create assets and resources for the Government departments and the Panchayati Raj institutions. However, the community at large may also benefit in the regions dominated by the tribal population and those belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The works creating assets for private institutions and trusts would be approved only after the State Government's special permission.

The guidelines have stated that the relief works would comprise the tasks which can either be finished by June 30 next or can be continued beyond that date under some other scheme. The works will also be taken up on priority in the villages where no public work under any other scheme is currently in operation.

The material component at the rate of 25 per cent of the total cost will be given for the works relating to deepening of public wells, water harvesting, ground water conservation, plantation and road construction launched through the Panchayati Raj institutions, and Irrigation, Forest and Land and Water Conservation Departments. The amount payable will be assessed at the district level.

Other relief works will include the completion of works launched earlier and the repair, maintenance and deepening of wells and reservoirs owned by small and marginal farmers, those living below poverty line and those belonging to SC and ST. For this category, the beneficiary will bear the cost of material component and the Relief Department will make payment of labour component up to 50 per cent of the total cost.

A combined labour ceiling of 50,000 has been fixed for the three districts, situated in the Mewar region of southern Rajasthan. The District Collectors have been instructed to select and employ labourers for relief works of various categories. While 15,000 labourers will be engaged in Bhilwara district, 8,000 will be employed in Rajsamand and 27,000 in Udaipur.

The drought relief has been a bone of contention between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress in the State over the past several months, with the latter citing the "comprehensive'' works launched during its rule and demanding that the employment on a similar scale be provided now. The BJP, which was busy in the Lok Sabha elections, did not pay attention to the process to declare certain areas drought-affected. Though the relief works started in three districts fulfil the demand to a limited extent, it is not yet clear whether the exercise would later be extended to other regions in the State.

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