Of 76,071 rural households in dist, only 31,246 families opted for job cards

AIMED at securing the livelihood of rural people and bridging the gap between rich and poor, the Central-sponsored National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) seems to to be doing nothing for the people in all five development blocks of the district.

If figures complied by the rural development department are any indication, this flagship programme of the Union government has showed that officials concerned, including elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions, have failed to popularise the scheme across the district.

Of the total 76,071 rural households in Solan, only 31,246 families have come forward for getting employment cards under the scheme. So far, about 500 works have been started in 211 gram panchayats of the district and out of 31,246 job card holders, only 6,586 card holders have applied for getting work under the programme.

Though the authorities concerned have spent about Rs 200 crore for providing employment to the card holders, the little interest being shown by the card holders has put a question mark over the functioning of Block development authorities in the district.

NREGA ensures at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose members voluntarily do unskilled manual work. Besides, it also helps in creating durable assets and strengthening of livelihood resource base of the rural poor. The choice of works suggested in the Act address causes of chronic poverty such as drought, deforestation and soil erosion so that the process of employment generation could be maintained on a sustainable basis.

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