SHILLONG, JUNE 6: The Ministry of Rural Development has released Rs 391 crore for material & administrative components towards implementation of the MGNREGA in the state.
This was informed by the State Rural Employment Society (SRES) in a statement issued on Monday.
“This amount has been released to meet the pending liabilities of FY 2021-22 under the programme which earlier could not be released due to various reasons- viz., merging of all subsidiary accounts in only ONE State Nodal Accounts (SNA), a major revamp in the NREGAS of module
capturing all details of staff, vendors (both administrative and material), skilled workers, etc. among others which are aimed at bringing about transparency and accountability in fund transfer,” it said.
The statement said the last fund received by the state was in March 2022 for an amount of Rs 49 crores.
The Chief Minister personally took up the matter with the Union Minister, Rural Development and was subsequently followed up by the Minister, C&RD and Principal Secretary, Community and Rural Development Department for early release of the funds by the Govt of India, it said.
“Once these funds released by the Govt of India are credited to the State Exchequer, these will immediately be disbursed to the respective VECs within this month,” the SRES said.
It said while there are no such issues with regards to wages component, which are normally paid within 15 days after submission of muster rolls, the above mentioned technical aspects have caused an inadvertent delay on the material components.
It further stated that Meghalaya has a unique requirement where MGNREGA is implemented not only for wage employment but for creation of durable assets in the rural areas which are the way forward for other developmental activities to find a way to penetrate the rural areas.
“We greatly appreciate the exemplary work of VECs for implementing the MGNREGA scheme for not only creation of wage employment but for taking up various innovative development works to benefit the rural people at large. The State continues to stand as one of the Top performers in implementation of the scheme,” it said.
MGNREGA has a mandate to utilise at least 60% of the funds received Natural Resource Management (NRM) annually. With the initiation of the new Financial Year, the targets under the programme are focussed on Natural Resource Management, Water conservation and Water harvesting, Climate Change reversal to bring about a paradigm shift in the implementation processes through constant dialogue and awareness about the immediate needs of intervention, it added.
By Our Reporter
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