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Job scheme yet to pick up pace in six districts

BANGALORE: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is yet to gain momentum in districts where farmers are in distress. The State Government appears to have done little to implement the scheme for the benefit of rural poor.

According to official data, implementation of the scheme has been dismal in the past seven months in the six districts where second phase of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is being implemented.

The scheme has not provided jobs to anyone in any district other than Chikmagalur.

Only members of 13 households have been provided jobs (50 mandays) in Chikmagalur district as on October 31.

The Union and State Governments have released Rs. 147.55 crore to these six districts.

But the actual expenditure incurred is just Rs. 5.98 crore. Of this, Rs. 1.47 crore has been spent on wage component, Rs. 1.65 crore on material and Rs. 2.84 crore on contingencies.

The first phase of NREGS was launched in February 2006 in the districts of Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Davangere and Chitradurga.

The second phase commenced in April 2007 in six districts under distress — Belgaum, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Kodagu, Shimoga and Bellary. Except Bellary, all other districts are under the Rs. 2,689-crore Prime Minister’s relief package for farmers.

There was no dearth of funds in the districts identified under the second phase, with Rs. 20.5 crore being allotted for Bellary, Rs. 47.85 crore for Belgaum, Rs. 17.28 crore for Chikmagalur, Rs. 26.24 crore for Hassan, Rs. 11.19 crore for Kodagu and Rs. 24.46 crore for Shimoga.

As many as 6,31,680 applications have been filed in the six districts and 4,91,597 job cards issued as on October 31.

Officials of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj told The Hindu that they had instructed the zilla panchayats to prepare taluk-wise action plan to launch the scheme.

The cumbersome process involving registration of households, issue of job cards, opening of accounts in banks and identification work are major factors for the delay in commencement of the scheme.

Frequent transfer of the State NREGA Director (three directors in a year) has also impeded the scheme’s progress. Kodagu Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) K.R. Sundar said that a Rs. 25-crore action plan had been approved and the district had received Rs. 8 crore.

The panchayats would soon implement the scheme, he said.

Shimoga Zilla Panchayat CEO Bore Gowda said that execution of the job guaranteee scheme had been delayed since it involved a lot of ground work.

“We are ready and it will be launched soon,” he added.

The former Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister C.M. Udasi had expressed apprehension regarding the impact of the scheme in Malnad districts since daily wages have been fixed at Rs. 74 a day, which is low.

Building contractors and plantation owners pay daily wages of more than Rs. 100.

The main objective of the rural job guarantee scheme is to enhance the livelihood security of households in rural areas .

It envisages providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to each household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

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