Amid pandemic MGNREGA and PMAY register growth in Bodoland Territorial Area Districts

GUWAHATI: Migrant workers who had returned to the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) finally have some good news to share. Around 97.5% of them, who had applied for job cards under the MGNREGA scheme, have already received it.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown phases, 18,766 migrant labourers had returned to the four districts of the BTAD. Of them, 10,760 workers had applied for job cards. Consequently, 10,538 returnees have received it,” a release from the Assam governor’s office on Sunday read.
Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi took over the administration of BTAD after expiry of the term of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) on April 27 and had resolved to play a proactive role in spearheading the socio-economic development of the region. This change in guard at the BTC administration had brought the Bodoland People’s Front, which was ruling the BTC till the breakout of Covid-19, to loggerheads with the governor.
After the pandemic hit the state, severely affecting economic activities, governor Mukhi had asked the BTC administrator Rajesh Prasad and the principal secretary Siddharth Singh to draw a roadmap for the sustenance of economic activities in the region.
“Though the Covid-19 pandemic has had its cascading effect on all fronts, the governor’s reiteration to continue development activities amid this health emergency have yielded fruits in all the districts of Bodoland Territorial Area districts with the key indicators showing positive growth,” the release read.
It added, “The governor had received several complaints regarding the misappropriation of the job cards issued under MGNREGA and had asked the administrator to designate the respective BDOs to take care of people's welfare like handling of job cards that were primarily looked after by the VCDCs before their dissolution. The governor, even changing the erstwhile practices of keeping the job cards with VCDCs, asked the administrator to get hold of all the job cards from the VCDC functionaries and hand them over to the beneficiaries. This has helped the job card holders to enjoy the benefits of MGNREGA scheme without having been trapped in the hands of the middle man.”
Moreover, it added that in the areas of housing, BTAD, since April 2020, has shown remarkable progress in the implementation of Prime Minister Awas Yojana(PMAY-Gramin) scheme. During the period starting from April 27, 6,382 houses had been built. Besides, 171 houses were also built in the tea garden areas. “The Panchayati Raj and Rural Development in the Council is also working resolutely towards poverty alleviation and becoming a ray of hope for the rural people who were badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the release read.