Tamil Nadu - Sivaganga   

Grameen Rozgar Yojna will be abandoned, says Ahluwalia

EVALUATING SCHEMES: Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia at a meeting on implementation of State and Central schemes, at Sivaganga on Saturday.

SIVAGANGA: The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojna will be abandoned in the near future, as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has received a good response from people, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters here after a high-level meeting to assess the execution of various government schemes, he said the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana were better schemes. They evoked excellent response from the people, elected representatives and officials, as there were fewer chances of leakage. The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojna received mixed response.

As for the draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) highlighting the loopholes in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Mr. Ahluwalia said the Government would continue the programme with better implementation and some modifications.

He admitted that some schemes were facing problems. The Government would try to make their implementation more transparent.

Mr. Ahluwalia said while some States were implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme well, others were lagging. The Andhra Pradesh Government was striving for transparency; details of all activities and works were being updated once in 15 days on its website.

The implementation was better in Sivaganga district. The Centre, he said, was closely monitoring the execution. As suggested by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who chaired the meeting, he would visit other States to evaluate the functioning of rural development and social sector schemes.

After visiting Muthupatty, Ponnankulam, Padamathur and Enathi, Mr. Chidambaram said the creation of farm ponds under the Drought Prone Area Development was highly beneficial to farmers. Additional funds would be allotted for schemes, which were being executed well.

Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment K.R. Periakaruppan; R. Sridharan, Joint Secretary, Planning Commission;, J.S. Samra, Chairman, National Rainfed Area Authority; Ashok Vardhan Shetty, Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj; and Collector Pankaj Kumar Bansal attended the meeting.

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Grameen Rozgar Yojna will be abandoned, says Ahluwalia

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