MAKING A POINT: Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajasekharan addressing zilla panchayat members and taluk panchayat presidents and vice-presidents at a workshop in Gulbarga on Sunday. Pankajkumar Pandey, zilla panchayat chief executive offi cer, and Marutirao Male (left), Congress MLC, are seen. (ANOTHER REPORT ON PAGE 4)

GULBARGA: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) designed to provide at least 100 days of assured employment to people living in rural areas would be launched in 200 districts of the 600 in the country on February 2.

In the State, five backward districts — Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Chitradurga and Davangere — have been selected for the scheme, and the Union Government proposes to cover the remaining 400 districts under the scheme in phases.

Making a video presentation to the new zilla panchayat members and the presidents and vice-presidents of the 10 taluk panchayats in the district at a workshop organised to explain the modalities of the implementation of the programme, the Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat, Pankajkumar Pandey, said in the districts where the scheme is implemented, the Gramina Rozgar Yojna and Food-for-Work Programme would be discontinued and all employment generation work would be taken up under the new scheme.

He said while the panchayats would implement the programme, the departments that do not come under its purview, including the Public Works, Forest and Irrigation, have been included under the scheme.

One of the highlights of the scheme was that gram panchayats would implement at least 50 per cent of the works and the Gram Sabhas would have a major role to play in finalising the projects to be taken up.

Mr. Pandey said that unlike in other employment generation programmes in vogue, there was no limit for spending on works in the new scheme and there would be no shortage of funds either. "It is left to the panchayats to take up as many works as possible in the district under the scheme and achieve the twin objectives of providing employment to the needy and creating permanent assets in their areas," he said.

He said the priorities of the works to be taken up under the scheme have been fixed as per the guidelines of a Central Act. First priority would be given to watershed programmes and conservation of water at all levels. The second would be for drought-proofing and increasing irrigation potential by using conserved rainwater.

The scheme also provides for improving irrigation facility for lands owned by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe families, tree plantation, developing existing tanks and construction of new tanks.

Works for retrieving the waterlogged areas would be taken up and roads connecting villages would be built under the scheme, Mr. Pandey said and added the Union Government would provide 100 per cent funds for the wage component of the works taken up by the panchayats.

The State should invest 25 per cent of the material component and the remaining would be borne by the Union Government. However, in case the panchayats failed to provide employment on demand from the people, the payment of unemployment allowance was compulsory and the whole portion of the unemployment allowance would be borne by the State Government, he said.

Mr. Pandey said it was the duty of the gram, taluk and zilla panchayats to ensure that everyone is given employment to avoid payment of unemployment allowance as it would be a burden on the State Exchequer. He said the payment of wages was universal and men and women labourers would get equal wages of Rs. 62.50 a day. In case of workers having to go to a place five kilometres away from their villages for work, they would be paid 10 per cent more as wages.

He said Gulbarga district has 5.50 lakh agriculture labourers and 45.54 per cent families living below poverty line as against 33.16 per cent in the State. It now has a good opportunity to provide succour to the needy under the scheme. The district ranked 17 in the State as far as per capita income is concerned.

The new panchayat president and vice-president and legislators who were invited to the workshop could not attend.

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