Bhubaneswar, Feb 27: Odisha has become a top performer State at national level in implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS).
Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi chairing the 4th governing body meeting of Odisha MGNREGS Society here on Friday said in the current financial year (as of February 25) Odisha has come up to eighth position in utilization of funds under MGNREGS from its 12th position in the year 2014-15.
“In the process Odisha has gone ahead of the leading States like Karnataka, Kerala and Maharastra during the current year”, he added.
While complimenting the department and the field level officers for this achievement, the Chief Secretary directed them to bring more projects into the fold of convergence with MGNREGS.
“Various departments have been asked to formulate appropriate project proposals and scale up their activities at the ground level”, he said.
Padhi said Development Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary Finance R Balakrishnan has been asked to issue suitable advisories to all departments in this regard.
He said the total utilization of funds under the scheme during the current fiscal up to February 25, 2016 has been to the tune of Rs 1,746 crore. “The total utilization during the fiscal year 2014-15 was around Rs 1,059 crore”, Padhi added.
Panchayatiraj department Secretary Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh expressed hope that the total utilization will touch Rs 2,000 crore by end of March, 2016.
“Around six crore man days have been created up to February 25, 2016 against the total man days of five crore created during 2014-15. The achievement in this indicator has crossed 85 pc”, he said, adding around 16.93 lakh households have been provided employment during this period which shows an achievement of 89 pc.
Singh stated that the participation of women and ST and SC people in man days created has been 95 pc and 97 pc, respectively.
The Secretary said innovative methods adopted for convergence has helped various departments to implement a number of projects worth of Rs 616.42 crore up to February 25, 2016.
“Departments like Forest and Environment, Horticulture, Watershed Development, Textile, Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Programme, Women and Child Development Department, Panchayati Raj have been the leading departments in convergence of their programmes with MGNREGS”, he stated, adding the major programmes taken under the convergence include plantation of both the forest and fruit bearing species, creation of water bodies, water conservation structures, land development, raising of poultry sheds, construction of anagwadi buildings, rural housing, etc.
