Andhra to use NREGS funds for roads in SC/ST areas
Sreenivas Janyala Posted online: Thu Apr 07 2011, 02:51 hrs
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh will be the first state to use National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds to provide road
connectivity and improve hygienic conditions in remote areas inhabited
by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people.
Rural connectivity has now been included in the permissible category
of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MNREGA).
Following this, the state government decided to spend Rs 1,000 crore
from NREGS funds to construct roads and concrete drains in remote
SC/ST colonies.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Wednesday at least 1,500
SC/ST areas in 22 districts — including some of the remotest locations
in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West
Godavari, Khammam, Warangal and Adilabad districts — will benefit.
Every year, a large number of deaths are reported from these locations
due to malaria, diarrhoea and cholera caused by poor hygienic
conditions. Medical care does not reach these areas due to lack of
connectivity.
According to Panchayati Raj officials, many SC/ST colonies in villages
do not have even connecting roads, leave aside drainage systems. Reddy
said the inclusion of rural connectivity under the MNREGA would be a
boon for rural development.
"The construction of concrete drains in low-lying areas will improve
hygiene conditions. Many SC/ST colonies are prone to diseases like
malaria due to poor sanitation,'' the CM said.
District Collectors can now sanction concrete internal roads and
concrete drains in selected localities.
NREGS offices in 22 districts, excluding Hyderabad, have been asked to
identify exclusive SC/ST-dominated areas as well as villages with a
sizeable population from the two backward sections.
The CM said many gram panchayats wanted to build internal roads in
SC/ST localities along with concrete drains with MGNREGS funds and
later concretise such roads with Assembly Constituency Development
Programme funds.
"The gram panchayats are of the opinion that such a step would lead to
the creation of high quality assets under MGNREGA that would have wide
ramifications on the state of public health,'' the CM said.
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