Grama Panchayat turns a role model in MGNREGS
The Malayattoor-Neeleeswaram grama panchayat, part of the Angamaly block panchayat, which spent `47.51 lakhs in wages for unskilled workers as part of MGNREGS in the last three months, has become a model for other local bodies.
According to Radhakrishnan Chengat, president of the grama panchayat, the MGNREGS was initiated in July. “Statistics from July to mid-September show that `47.51 lakhs have been spent as wages. By all counts, this is an excellent performance. The most significant fact is that 95 per cent of the total workforce were women. A creative implementation of the scheme has resulted in MGNREGS becoming the major source of livelihood for the poorer sections in the panchayat”, he said.
Radhakrishnan added that the MGNREGS is helping fight poverty in 4,300 households in the village. “There is a serious shortage of employment opportunities in the village. The MGNREGS is helping fill this vacuum. Rain-water harvesting, building compost pits, cleaning canals and other water resources, and various agricultural works on plots owned by BPL families are the major works carried out in our panchayat under MGNREGS”, he said.The Malayattoor-Neeleeswaram panchayat is planning to spend `6.5 crores this fiscal as part of MGNREGS. For the past four years, the panchayat has been coming first in the district for spending maximum amount of money as MGNREGS wages. In the last fiscal, the panchayat had spent `4 crore. “The panchayat samithi has decided that this amount should be raised to `6.5 crore this fiscal. In MGNREGS, the workers get wages directly without the intervention of intermediaries”, Radhakrishnan pointed out.
Around 4,300 families have registered for MGNREGS this fiscal. In the last fiscal, 4,000 job cards were distributed. The office bearers of the panchayat claimed that the panchayat could give jobs to all those who demanded job opportunities. The scheme also generated 1,27,660 working days. Members of Scheduled Castes got 3,970 days and Scheduled Tribes got 200 working days. 1,23,490 working days were generated for General Category.