BHUBANESWAR: Even as demand for employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) continues to be low against the number of job cards issued, the State Government claims to have exceeded its target under different parameters. Chairing a meeting of the State Employment Guarantee Council to take a stock of the progress of the flagship rural employment scheme, State Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pradeep Maharathy on Tuesday said that the State had created 9.22 crore man days in 2017-18 fiscal against target of 9 crore.
According to a report of the Panchayati Raj department, around 25.68 lakh households comprising 44.30 lakh persons demanded jobs under the scheme in the last financial year while the total number of registered job seekers were over 1.60 crore. Although employment was offered to 44.22 lakh job card holders, 37.55 lakh people reported for work. Out of the total registered job seekers, only 68,104 completed 100 days of work while 53,243 families have been included as beneficiaries under rural housing schemes like Indira Awas Yojana (IAY).
The department has planned to generate 9.5 crore man days under MGNREGA during the current fiscal. Official sources said that the State may exceed the target as over 3.42 crore man days have already been generated till date.
Stressing involvement of more women under the rural employment scheme, the Minister asked the department to converge MGNREGA with various economic activities undertaken by the Odisha Livelihood Mission for sustainable development He further directed the department to take up more projects for soil and water conservation, plantation, land development and effective management of natural resources out of MGNREGA fund.