 "Approval of projects under PMEGP scheme rises 44% between April-August")
The approval of projects under the government's flagship Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme increased 44 per cent between April and August 18 this year, theKhadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) said on Thursday.
According to the KVIC, during the period from April to August in 2020, financing banks sanctioned 11,191 projects and a Rs 345.43-crore margin money was disbursed to applicants as compared to the Rs 276.09-crore margin money disbursed for 9,161 projects in the first five months of the previous year.
The number of sanctioned projects by banks thus increased 22 per cent, while the disbursement of margin money by the KVIC rose 24 per cent as compared to the previous year, KVIC stated.
On April 28 this year, theMinistry of MSME amended the guidelines to do away with the role of the District Level Task Force Committee in approving the PMEGP projects.
The role of the committee, headed by district collector, was seen as a bottleneck in timely and swift execution of projects under the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP).
"Thanks to the decision of the Ministry of MSME of eliminating the role of district collectors in approving the PMEGP projects, the approval of projects during the first five months of this financial year, i.e. from April 1, 2020 to August 18, 2020, increased by a whopping 44 per cent," KVIC said.
KVIC, which implements PMEGP, has approved and forwarded 1.03 lakh project applications to the financing banks as compared with 71,556 projects during the corresponding period last year, thus registering a jump of nearly 44 per cent.
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"Discontinuing the role of district collectors has ensured swift implementation of the projects. However, the banks must also expedite the process of sanctioning funds so as to benefit the maximum number of applicants.
"Timely disbursal of funds is crucial for execution of projects and creating employment in the country," KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said.