MINISTER TAKES ACTION ON PENDIGN EMPLOYMENT UNDER MNREGA

MINISTER TAKES ACTION ON PENDIGN EMPLOYMENT UNDER MNREGA

28-DEC-ENG 17

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA---------------------------In the financial year 2025-26, there are 13,000 laborers in the state who have not received work even after applying for employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). Offer letters should be prepared for these laborers within three days, and they should be called to work without fail. Rural Development and Transport Minister Shravan Kumar said this to departmental officials on Tuesday. He was reviewing the schemes run by the Rural Development Department at the convention hall of the Irrigation Building.

The Minister said that their work is connected to the poor. The poor people of Bihar trust them. This trust is not without reason. They provide work under MNREGA, Jeevika, and LSBA. The Minister said that CM Nitish Kumar wants to bring Bihar into the category of the top five states in the country. This will only be possible when they properly implement rural development schemes. He said that if there is any scheme that is implemented effectively at the ground level in the state, it is the rural development schemes.

He said that under the PM Awas Yojana, a target of more than 49.30 lakh houses was set between 2016-17 and 2025-26. They have completed more than 39.36 lakh houses. There are about five to six thousand people who have completed the construction of their houses but have not yet received the third installment. The concerned officials should make the payment to these beneficiaries within the financial year.

He said that even after receiving the third installment, 1,562 people in 2021-22, 5,993 in 2024-25, and 458 people in 2025-26 have not completed their houses. Departmental officials should investigate this and get the house construction completed as soon as possible. He said that the Chief Minister Rural Housing Scheme is quite old. In this scheme, there are 6,800 people whose houses are not yet complete even after receiving the third installment. Initiate the process to complete this before the new year as well.

In this meeting, a thorough review of schemes such as Jeevika, LSBA, MNREGA, PM-CM Awas Yojana, and Jal-Jeevan Hariyali was conducted. Jeevika CEO Himanshu Sharma, MNREGA Commissioner Abhilasha Kumari, Naveen Pratap Rana, and officials from Jal Jeevan Hariyali, Lohia Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA), PM Awas Yojana, etc., were present.

The minister said that we have recently launched the Chief Minister Women's Employment Scheme. Bihar is at the forefront in the country in the case of Jeevika. More than 1.5 crore women are associated with these groups.

In the meeting, Secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh said that the meeting, which was held regularly before, will be restarted as a weekly meeting. This will begin from the coming Monday. He asked all the new DDCs to study the schemes. The delay in timely payment of monthly honorarium to sanitation workers collecting garbage door-to-door is a matter of concern.