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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Govt gears up to extend MGNREGS benefits to more BPL families by Virendra Nath Bhatt

Govt gears up to extend MGNREGS benefits to more BPL families by Virendra Nath Bhatt

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published Published on Feb 7, 2011   modified Modified on Feb 7, 2011
With Assembly elections just about a year away, the Mayawati government seems to have realised the importance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

On Thursday, hundreds of government officers fanned out in around 30 districts of the state for holding special camps to issue jobs card to the poor who have been left out in the past.

The holding of camps is part of the campaign which was launched on January 17.

On Thursday, the camps were held in 217 blocks and the officials of the Rural Development department, from additional commissioner to the rank of project directors in districts, were engaged in the exercise.

The district magistrates, who are district coordination officers for MGNREGS, were asked to make all arrangements for the special camps. The Rojgar Sevak working for MGNREGS, panchayat secretary and the Lekhpal of each village had been directed to create awareness about the camps.

The officials said more such camps are planned in coming months. Principal Secretary of Rural Development Manoj Kumar Singh said 32 districts covered by the campaign had been identified in a study as the most vulnerable and the plan was to extend the benefit to 10 lakh poor families. “Today, I visited a village under Chakia block in Chanduli district where 80 poor families had job cards but had no work since the issue of the card. We wish to focus on such poor people and ensure the benefit reaches them,” he said.

In the past, Mayawati has often criticised MGNREGS. Ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, she had promised 300 days of work under the scheme if she became the Prime Minister.

On the other hand, Congress leaders have criticised the UP government for poor implementation of the scheme.

An official said the decision to organise camps was taken in view of complaints that many deserving persons were not selected as beneficiaries. Moreover, since the job cards issued under the scheme are valid only for five years, many cards need re-validation as the scheme was formally launched in 2006-07.

“The campaign is also to ensure that a receipt is issued by the BDO to every applicant,” he said.

Under rules, it is mandatory for the government to provide work to the job card holder within the 15 days of the receipt of the application, otherwise it has to pay one-fourth of the wages for 30 days as unemployment allowance and not less then half of the wages for 70 days. In UP, card holders are not issued receipts to avoid paying allowance.

Manoj Kumar said, “The BDOs have been instructed to issue job cards and also the receipts to the applicants,” he said.

The Indian Express, 29 January, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Govt-gears-up-to-extend-MGNREGS-benefits-to-more-BPL-families/743507/


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