The State government is set to vigorously implement the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme to tackle unemployment in rural areas in the wake of restrictions on account of COVID-19.
Announcing this at a press conference in Bengaluru on Tuesday, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa said implementation of the scheme in the State had got a boost with the release of ₹1,861 crore from the Centre.
The funds would also be used to clear pending bills to the tune of ₹1,039 crore towards the wages of labourers. Even after clearing such bills, the RDPR Department would be left with ₹1,077 crore for implementation of the MNREGA scheme.
The Centre had also allowed the State to increase the wages under the scheme from the present ₹249 to ₹275 per person a day. This will come in handy in enthusing people to take up work under this scheme, the Minister hoped.
Precautions to ensure social distance would be taken while implementing the MNREGA scheme, he said.
Taking serious exception to criticism by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D.K. Shivakumar, who had wondered “where is the RDPR Minister sleeping when the rural areas are gripped by crisis”, Mr. Eshwarappa maintained: “We would not have got these Central funds if I was sleeping at home.”
He said task forces had been formed in all the village panchayats to tackle the spread of COVID-19. Members of such task forces had been trained through video-conference.
Drinking water
The Minister said the government had released ₹1 crore each for 49 drought-hit taluks spread across 18 districts in the State for handling drinking water supply. In addition to this, ₹25 lakh each would be released to other taluks which too are facing shortage of drinking water.
Similarly, the State was set to get an allocation of ₹2,500 crore from the 15th Finance Commission for village panchayats for handling drinking water and cleanliness issues. Each village panchayat would get ₹40 lakh.
