Kerala - Kottayam   

50,000 enrol for NREGP work

KOTTAYAM: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) has been launched in the district with an initial line-up of over 50,000 candidates.

District panchayat president Thomas Kunnappaly told mediapersons here on Wednesday that the implementation was progressing at a rapid pace, with the authorities already issuing over 20,000 identity cards to prospective beneficiaries.

He said a close perusal of the list would bring out the geo-political divide of the district as a majority of the candidates had registered from the Upper Kuttanad area, stretching from Changanassery to Vaikom. The registration from the eastern hilly tracks was in a minority, he said.

Women candidates dominated, he said, adding that they had been earmarked for one-third of the job opportunities.

The programme is being implemented by local bodies and the works include water conservation, drought proofing, irrigation canal construction, renovation of traditional waterbodies, land development, flood protection and improving road access.

Irrigation projects that would benefit the land of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, those who received land through land redistribution and the beneficiaries of the Indira Awaz Yojana would also be taken up.

In the next stage, grama sabhas will be convened to finalise the list of works to be implemented under the programme in their respective areas.

District Collector Sharmila Mary Joseph was present on the occasion.

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