Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has directed the officials of the Rural Development department to make serious, positive and meaningful efforts to ensure the deployment of targeted women mates in all gram panchayats in projects undertaken under MGNREGA.
Maurya said this target should be achieved at the earliest by all block development officers, gram panchayat development officers, village development officers and employment servants by launching a campaign.
Mahila mates (women maters) will be deployed from the block level units of UPSRLM (Uttar Pradesh Rural Livelihood Mission) and they will get work throughout the year as it would promote women empowerment and women's self-reliance. Maurya said that strict action would be taken against the officers/employees negligent in the selection of women mates.
The deputy chief minister gave these directions while presiding over a meeting in connection with the implementation of MGNREGA at his camp office. He instructed the officers of MGNREGA cell of Rural Development department to increase the wages of workers in MGNREGA on the lines of other states, wages fixed by the Labour department and other big institutions. He said a plan should be prepared and a meeting should be held with the officials of the Ministry of Rural Development to prepare a draft in this regard.
Maurya said to increase the income of farmers under MGNREGA, a plan should be made to incorporate more and more agricultural works, such as harvesting of crops, threshing and removal of water hyacinth from lakes, ponds, asserted. He said if this was done, people of rural areas would benefit from it.
“There are 264 types of works under MGNREGA, a plan should be made to include more works in it,” he said, adding that opinion could be sought from big and eminent institutions on what other innovative and village-oriented works could be done under the MGNREGA.
Maurya said that provision should be made to build ‘Bharat Seva Nirman Kendras’ (community buildings) in villages under MGNREGA and they should be named after a reputed personality of the area. He said provision for repair of material/infrastructural facilities of gram panchayats should be also made under MGNREGA.
He said a plan should be made to clean the bed of rivers which had reached the verge of extinction. He said an action plan should be made to make good use of the soil generated from the raw works under MGNREGA projects, and this soil could be sold by the gram panchayats for making tiles, roads and other works.
Maurya also stressed on making provision for small-marginal farmers to work in MGNREGA projects. HE said a plan should be made to arrange work for big farmers in developing ponds where fish farming could be encouraged and tree plantation under MGNREGA.
He asked the officials to upload the names of workers working for the prescribed days in MGNREGA schemes on the website/portal of the Labour department so that they got the benefit of ‘deemed registration’ and social security.
Maurya said women's participation in MGNREGA projects should be increased more as it would promote women’s empowerment and self-reliance. He said if a model plan for the development of villages was made, then most of the problems of the villages would be solved.
He said at least one gram panchayat of every block should be developed as a model gram panchayat and a model should be made for making community animal sheds under MGNREGA. He said arrangements should also be made to build animal sheds on pastures which were being vacated.