Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal said that the technical committee appointed by the Centre to look into the possibilities of including coir sector in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the activities of the Scheme will visit the district this week. The Minister was inaugurating a two-day camp on the MGNREGS organised by the Central Board for Workers Education under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment at Aryad block panchayat in the district on Sunday. The Minister said that Union Minister for Rural Development Jayaram Ramesh had informed him of the visit of the Central team.
He said that opening panchayat-level service centres for the MGNREGS will be beneficial to the labourers. He observed that Alappuzha district got the maximum benefit from the MGNREGS. As per the last year's MGNREGS records itself, workers in the district got Rs.100 crore as wages. This year, efforts were on to raise it to Rs.150 crore. The raising of the wages of workers under the MGNREGS to Rs. 200 was under the consideration of the Centre. He also asked the panchayats to come up with toilet facilities in public places by utilising the funds under the MGNREGS. Aryad block panchyat president N.S. George presided over.
