Centre asked to include HIV positive people in BPL list

Seeking immediate release of Rs 137 crore under NREGA for the state, Orissa government today asked the Centre to include all disadvantaged groups like HIV positive people in the proposed census for BPL, official sources said.

The demands were made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who earlier in the day met Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister C P Joshi at New Delhi.

The proposed census for BPL should be so structured as to include all the disadvantaged groups such as primitive tribes, the women-headed householdS, daily wage earners, physically challeneged groups besides the HIV positive patients, Patnaik told Joshi, according to an official release issued by the chief minister's office (CMO) here.

Stating that the state government had already issued direction to its officials to include the disadvantaged groups, Patnaik said that they should be treated as genuine beneficiaries.

The chief minister said NREGA had a positive impact on the lives of lakhs of people in the poorest districts in Orissa and helped in creating durable assets and infrastructure to strengthen the livelihood resource base for the rural poor, the release said.

Patnaik said for more effective implementation of NREGA measures such as meeting the wage component under Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) out of NREGA, development of Cement Concrete (CC) Roads/pathways inside ST/SC basti areas to improve sanitation in the village and payment of the service charges to banks out of the admissible 6 per cent contingency could be taken.

 As regards the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), he said tribal areas account for more than 45 per cent of the area in Orissa and have thinly populated habitations and therefore do not conform to PMGSY criteria.

Since contractors were not available in tribal districts for execution of PMGSY projects, he asked Joshi to allow departmental execution of roads under the programme in tribal areas regardless of their population size.

The Chief Minister expressed concern over reduction in the centre's share in the National Rural Drinking Water Programme from Rs 302 crore during 2008-09 to Rs 187 crore in the current financial year.

He suggested that the Centre take into account the size of the state along with number of habitations and relative backwardness for determining its share instead of on the basis of population.