BANGALORE: The State Government has done little to demonstrate its commitment in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for the benefit of the unemployed poor in rural areas of five districts.

The scheme is being implemented in 1,091 gram panchayats of Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Davangere and Chitradurga districts.

Its main objective is enhancement of livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work.

According to official data, the Government's record in the implementation of the scheme has been dismal in the past six months.

Though Rs. 132.12 crore was made available for the scheme, the Government has spent only Rs. 30.57 crore (utilisation of 22 per cent of funds).

A total 6,513 works have been implemented by creating employment of 47.59 lakh man-days.

The Centre launched the scheme on February 2, 2006, in 200 districts across 14 States based on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill passed by Parliament last year.

The Bill (now an Act) treated the right to work as a constitutional guarantee for millions of unemployed people in rural India.

The highest number of 26.12 lakh man-days work was provided in Chitradurga district followed by 6.91 in Davangere, 5.6 lakh in Gulbarga, 5.23 lakh in Bidar, and 3.72 lakh in Raichur.

The execution of scheme was satisfactory only in Chitradurga district.

As of July 31, 2006, Bidar district utilised Rs. 3.24 crore (against the availability of Rs. 29.61 crore), Chitradurga Rs. 15.37 crore (Rs. 29.85 crore), Davangere Rs. 3.90 crore (Rs. 22.91 crore), Gulbarga Rs. 5.29 crore (Rs. 28.55 crore), and Raichur Rs. 2.74 crore (Rs. 21.18 crore).

A sum of Rs. 18.82 crore was used towards wages for unskilled work, Rs. 85.38 lakh as wages for semi-skilled and skilled work, and Rs. 9.87 crore was spent on materials and Rs. 1.01 crore on contingency.

As many as 6,48,772 households registered their names seeking work in the five districts.

Other States too did not do well in the implementation of the scheme in the past six months.

Himachal Pradesh utilised 49.6 per cent of the sanctioned funds, Uttar Pradesh 33 per cent, Bihar 30 per cent, West Bengal 30 per cent, Uttaranchaal 26 per cent, Maharashtra 25 per cent, Haryana 20.6 per cent and Tamil Nadu seven per cent.

Of the Rs. 4,401.5 crore allocated for the implementation of the scheme, the States concerned have utilised Rs. 1,973.38 crore (44.9 per cent) in the past six months.

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