Gadag is first district to see NREGP launch

Gadag became the first district in Karnataka to start work on the action plan under the second phase of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) sponsored by the Centre.

The second phase of NREGP was launched in 18 districts in Karnataka last week. While all other districts are yet to do even the preliminary work like educating the people on the scheme and prepare an action plan, Gadag district which prepared itself for implementing the programme in advance commenced the works on April 1.

Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh formally inaugurated the works on watershed development scheme at Nagavi village in Gadag taluk.

The NREGP is being implemented in 106 village panchayats spread over five taluks of the district. The district has prepared an action plan to take up 9,151 works at a cost of Rs 89.84 crore which would enable the generation of 79.91 lakh man days' employment.

Over 270,000 people from 82,000 families have enrolled as labourers for the programme.

They will be paid Rs 74 per day and after 15 days their wages would be credited into their bank accounts. The secretaries of the gram panchayats have ensured those who opt to be employed have a bank account.

Zilla panchayat CEO Buddhanagouda Patil told Business Standard that priority had been given to schemes which would help raise the water table and social forestry. Other works include watershed, horticulture, engineering, animal husbandry, sericulture, fisheries and minor irrigation.

Legislator of the dissolved assembly D R Patil who has shown a keen interest in implementing the scheme and who played a major role in involving people at the grassroots in the district said farmers would be benefited by the NREGP as works related to the development of agriculture could be taken up under the scheme.

The scheme gives employment opportunity to unskilled labour too. While 40 per cent of the wages is allocated for skilled labour, 60 per cent is earmarked for unskilled labour. There is provision for employment for a minimum of 100 days for each family during the year and prevent the migration of people in search of employment during summer.

While the NREGP was introduced in drought-prone Bidar, Gulbarga, Raichur, Davanagere and Chitradurga districts in April 2006, it was launched in Bellary, Belgaum, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Kodagu and Shimoga districts in 2007.