ONGOLE: Prakasam district has again secured the first spot in the state in utilisation of MGNREGS funds in 2020-21, after a gap of two years. The combined expenditure under the scheme by all the 13 districts last fiscal, which ended March 31, stood at Rs 10,781.12 crore, out of which Rs 1,121 crore was spent by Prakasam alone.
The district also tops the state in creation of work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for 2.71 crore mandays so far this fiscal—against the target of 2.64 crore mandays—with a wage component of Rs 607.44 crore and material component of Rs 484.98 crore. As much as Rs 28.58 crore was spent under the head ‘administrative feasible account’.
Over 6.25 lakh families in the district have MGNREGS job cards, and the average wage paid to each labourer stood at Rs 223 per day. Next in the list of most MGNREGS funds utilised are Vizianagaram (Rs 1,062.87 crore), East Godavari (Rs 1054.81 crore) and Anantapur (Rs 1047.97 crore).
“Prakasam getting the first spot in the rankings is due to proper implementation of the schedule, and coordination between the district officials and staff,” DWMA project director Seena Reddy said. For the current financial year, the state government has fixed 2.71 crore mandays, and Rs 558 crore wage
component.