More than 9000 projects under MGNREGS are still incomplete in Bundelkhand region

The state government is yet to complete more than 9,000 tasks under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the Bundelkhand region this fiscal.

The department of rural development — the nodal department for the implementation of the scheme — has found that it has yet to complete 9,271 tasks under the scheme in the seven districts.

If the department fails to complete them by March 31 and provide utilisation certificates to the Union government, it will be difficult for it to get new projects sanctioned. Officials, however, said they were trying hard to complete most of the tasks by March 31.

Under the MGNREGS, sanctioned tasks must be completed within one financial year. Only after submitting the utilisation certificate for the current financial year can the state get the new budget approved and funds released.

According to reports of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA), Jhansi, a total of 9,271 tasks are behind schedule in the region. Of these, 3,151 have been delayed for over three months.

DRDA (Jhansi) project director GP Gautam told The Indian Express, “Since we had to send the report to the state government, we got all the ongoing sites inspected and found that there are about 9,271 sites where work is still incomplete. Most of these works are related to water conservation activities.”

A senior state official said, “A large number of unfinished tasks would mean delay in submission of utilisation certificates and further delay in approval and release of funds for the next financial year. Hence, stress is on completing the work within that fiscal only.”

Jhansi has the highest number of pending tasks at 3,742. This is followed by Jalaun at 2,770, Hamirpur at 1,604, Lalitpur at 657, Banda at 282 and Chitrakoot at 216. Mahoba is the only district where the work is nearly 92 per cent complete.

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Courtesy: indianexpress.com