The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) Scheme, already been successfully implemented in Hoshiarpur district, would now be extended to in all the districts of Punjab and state would focus on 100 per cent utilisation of NREGA funds.
In a review meeting of NREGA scheme, held here today under the chairmanship of Ranjeet Singh Brahmpura, Rural Development and Panchayats Minister, Punjab directed the officers to plan the proposals for the works in villages at the earliest so that the central funding could be achieved timely and state could make budgetary allocations for the participation.
The Minister said that NREGA had already been successfully launched in district Hoshiarpur by covering the entire rural areas and ensuring one hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household, whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual labour.
He added that 1,328 works has been implemented in the district generating 15.57 lakhs man days by utilising Rs 2500.21 lakhs.
He asked the officers to highlight the benefits of these centrally sponsored developmental schemes in the rural areas so that beneficiaries could avail the benefits of these schemes.
Brahmpura said that the major achievements of NREGA was that the rural idle youth who were indulging in taking drugs have come back to work.
The rural men and women, who were engaged in development works under NREGA, had already changed their lifestyle.
In the meeting besides reviewing progress of development works undertaken by various departments/gram Panchayats and for further successful implementation of the scheme, he asked the officers to ensure proper utilisation of funds by personal monitoring and supervision of various projects to plug the leakage of funds so that the desired target could be achieved.