28,000 gram panchayats: Maharashtra sets Rs 10,000-crore target under MGNREGA

The projects include farm ponds, irrigation wells, village ponds, desilting of water conservation projects, rural toilets, vermi-compost, setting up nurseries, tree plantation, construction of rural houses and cow sheds, among others.

The cabinet minister for Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS), Jaikumar Rawal said, “Maharashtra’s performance in implementing MGNREGA has not been very satisfactory. In the past seven years, we have spent only Rs 8,000 crore. Madhya Pradesh has spent Rs 25,000 crore in the same period.”

Rawal said the government intends to link the work undertaken in MGNREGA to creating permanent assets.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, too, has emphasised on the need for greater investment in rural sectors to create new work opportunities and provide infrastructure to farmers.

Funds for the MGNREGA are shared between the Centre and states on a 60:40 basis. To utilise the scheme better, Maharashtra has now decided to relax norms and incorporate new features under the title Swabhimani Prakalp, to engage youths, senior citizens and women to take up work in their villages.

The proposal mentions that the state has been facing problems in getting people to work as labourers, as rural youth prefer to seek employment elsewhere instead of sweating on road construction.

Earlier, there were rigid norms, which also discouraged people to take up jobs under the MNREGA.

Taking a cue from other states that have amended norms to cater to their population’s requirements within the parameters specified by the Centre, Maharashtra has decided to budget rural projects in a time-bound manner.

Rawal said, “To begin with, we will launch 1.11 lakh irrigation wells and 1.11 lakh farm ponds.”

The state has decided to increase its forest area through massive tree plantation drive, and will bring work for this under EGS. MGNREGA workers will also be involved in constructing fisheries ponds. Some of these schemes would be interlinked with the departments concerned.