Following criticism over stopping of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme, the State government allowed such works in rural areas with COVID-19 appropriate behaviour to a maximum of 40 workers at any location.
The order allowing these works came on Wednesday by the Principal Secretary, Revenue, N. Manjunath Prasad. Stopping of the works had affected about one lakh households in rural areas.
Earlier, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa in Shivamogga had indicated that discussions had commenced whether to restart the works or not.
He said that the number of people coming for work had seen an increase. “Where earlier 200 people would come to work, there are about 500 people. In that background, some people asked the works to be stopped,” he said.
He said: “If works have to be stopped, how to deal with the supply of food.”
