The State government has generated nearly 24 crore person days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) against 23.5 crore person days approved by Central government, according to Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy.
Women had a lion’s share of the person days at 57.3%, and 99.27% of the payments had been made within a fortnight. Andhra Pradesh was among the top five States in generating wage employment even during the lockdown period, the Minister said in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
The Minister was replying to a question asked by legislators K. Govardhan Reddy, K. Dharmasri, A. Jogarao, K. Anil Kumar and T. Arthur on the status of the implementation of the MGNREGS.
Mr. Ramachandra Reddy said the expenditure incurred under the scheme during the financial year 2021-22 was ₹7,508 crore, of which ₹4,909 crore went towards wages for the unskilled workers and ₹2,505 crore for skilled wages and material component.
The Minister said construction of 10,897 village secretariat buildings was taken up under the scheme at an estimated cost of ₹4,201 crore, and nearly ₹1,873 crore of it had been spent.
Besides, 10,315 Rythu Bharosa Kendras, 8,509 YSR Health Clinics, 2,535 bulk milk cooling centres, 4,454 YSR Digital Libraries, and 2,01,775 water harvesting structures were being constructed at an aggregate cost of approximately ₹7,270 crore, the Minister said.
