State eyes more jobs under MGNREGS with fund boost

Bhubaneswar: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement regarding additional Rs 40,000 crore allocation under the MGNREGS is expected to help states like Odisha that has seen reverse migration as tens of thousands of people returned from different states due to lockdown over Covid-19.
An official source said the state government plans to create 20 crore person days under MGNREGS during the current financial year. If a person works for a day, it is counted as one person day.
“We are now creating nine lakh person days work under the MGNREGS and we would increase them to 20 lakh person days by May-end as directed by the chief minister. Since the Centre has allocated additional Rs 40,000 crore under the MGNREGS, funds would not be a problem for us,” said a senior government official.
As directed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik to make MGNREGS target-oriented to create employment opportunities in rural areas, especially in view of the return of scores of people from different states, the state panchayati raj department has been preparing a detailed plan to create more jobs under the rural job scheme.
Nearly 1.65 lakh people have returned to Odisha from different states as on Sunday, said an official source.
“Under MGNREGS, we are trying to generate more and more jobs by merging works of various other departments like forest and environment, water resources, ST & SC development and agencies like horticulture and soil conservation. Our focus is to ensure more jobs,” said panchayati raj minister Pratap Jena.
Under the rural job scheme launched by the UPA government, the Centre bears 100% labour cost, which is directly transferred to the accounts of the labourers while on material cost on various projects, the fund sharing pattern is 75:25 between the Centre and the state government.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan also welcomed the Union finance minister’s announcement to allocate additional Rs 40,000 crore under the MGNREGS.
“The move will help the migrant workers get livelihood opportunities in their localities which will also help in boosting the local economy,” said Dharmendra.
As part of the economic package, the state government is also looking forward to gain from the Centre’s plan to strengthen public health infrastructure like establishment of health and wellness centres in rural and urban areas, setting up of infectious disease blocks in all districts and strengthening of laboratory and testing network.