Kerala - Kochi   

Akshaya centres to be involved in NREGP

KOCHI: The Poverty Alleviation Unit (PAU) and the District Akshaya Project Office will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding, entrusting Akshaya centres with taking photographs of applicants registering for work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) in Ernakulam district.

An awareness class for Akshaya centre entrepreneurs from the district was held on Monday to apprise them of their role in the scheme. Joseph Abraham, Project Director of district PAU, who spoke at the class, assured them of prompt payment. Centres devoid of digital cameras could get those made available by panchayats. Since it is for a government project no rent would be charged, he said.

Applicants are required to produce five passport size photos to be affixed on the registration form, job card and muster roll and for opening bank accounts, as payments would be made through bank. The applicants must go to the nearest Akshaya centre to be photographed. Since the scheme is meant for rural areas, only those centres in panchayats would be involved in the process.

Akshaya centres in each panchayat would be assigned specific number of wards. A decision on the fee is yet to be reached.

In Thrissur district where a MoU had already been signed between the PAU and Akshaya, the centres are about to take up the work by next week, Aji Francis, Assistant District Coordinator, Thrissur, said.

An entrepreneur will receive Rs.1.50 per photograph, while each copy would be charged Rs.1.25. Depending on the success of the work, more data entry and documentation work could be allocated to Akshaya centres. So far 25,000 applicants have registered under NREGP in Ernakulam and it was expected to touch one lakh.

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