Tamil Nadu   

Over 1.16 lakh people provided jobs under job guarantee scheme

Special Correspondent

Tiruvannamalai district administration formulates schemes to tune of Rs.75 cr.

TIRUVANNAMALAI: A total of 1.16 lakh people have been provided employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) being implemented in Tiruvannamalai district on the completion of first year of the scheme here on Friday.

Briefing newspersons at Radhapuram panchayat on Friday, District Collector Satyabrata Sahoo said that under the demand-driven scheme, though the Centre had allotted only Rs.35 crore for 2006-07, the district administration had prepared schemes for Rs.75 crore in order that there was sufficient work to be given to agricultural labourers during off-season. Each family of agricultural labourers was guaranteed a minimum of 100 days work a year. The daily wage was Rs.80.

The Collector said that out of the allotted Rs.35 crore, a sum of Rs.20 crore had already been spent.

Till last year the agricultural labourers, who did not have any work, migrated to other places in search of work and earned about Rs.60 to Rs.70 a day.

But after the implementation of the scheme, they were getting Rs.80 per day through works generated in their own villages. The workers were provided job cards in which the payments made to them were entered.

Mr. Sahoo said that in order to avoid contractors, only earthen works such as formation of new ponds, strengthening of tanks bunds, desilting of supply channels, rejuvenation of temple tanks and formation of new roads were taken up.

Out of 4.65 lakh agricultural labourer families, 2.32 lakh families registered themselves for the job cards.

While job cards were issued to all applicants, only 1.16 lakh families applied for employment, and all of them got it. Out of 1,034 works taken up in the 860 panchayats, 169 works were completed. One of the important features of the scheme was the carrying of social audit by a committee.

S. Balasubramanian, Project Director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), the implementing agency for NREGS, said that the scheme also provides for employment to physically-challenged workers in the task of looking after the children of the other women workers. And equal wages were paid to women.

Even if a worker was injured during work, he or she was paid the full wages if the worker was admitted as an in-patient in a hospital.

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