India News | Union Secretary Reviews Development Work Under MGNREGA in J&K

Jammu, Aug 21 (PTI) Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Rural Development Rohit Kumar conducted an exhaustive tour of various panchayats here on Saturday to assess the status of various development works being executed in Jammu and Kashmir under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), an official spokesperson said.

Kumar was accompanied by senior officers, including Director, Rural Development, Jammu, Kishore Singh Chib. He collected detailed feedback during his interaction with the locals, the spokesperson said.

Also Read | Bhopal Traffic Sub Inspector, Stabbed By Biker For Lifting His Bike From No-Parking, Dies.

Appreciating the quality of work being executed with proper maintenance of records, the Union secretary stressed the need of extending the benefits of MGNREGA to the vulnerable sections of the society, including the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women.

He asked those concerned to organise awareness camps at panchayat and village levels to highlight the benefits of various schemes and educate people about the types of work permissible under the MGNREGA, the spokesperson said.

Also Read | DSGMC Elections 2021: Number of Eligible Voters in Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Elections Decreases to 3.42 Lakh.

Earlier, the joint secretary held a detailed meeting to review the progress and functioning of the work under the MGNREGA.

"Over 56 lakh person days have been generated so far during 2021-22, which included 26 per cent women workers. The average days of employment provided per household is about 28, while more than 340 workers completed 100 days of wage employment and over 700 differently-abled workers availed employment under MGNREGA," the spokesperson said.

He said the meeting was also informed that the Jammu and Kashmir Social Audit Unit (JKSAU) has been fully functional since January.

"The unit has conducted 344 gram sabhas and 15 block-level hearings, covering 43 blocks, in which over 1,400 issues were flagged," the spokesperson said.

He said the joint secretary directed officers to cover minimum 65 per cent Natural Resource Management (NRM) work and 60 per cent agri-related projects as envisaged under the scheme.

There are 261 permissible activities under the scheme, the spokesperson added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)