Home Minister P. Sabitha Indra Reddy on Monday said the government has extended the NREGA scheme to 200 days a year and it was also proposing to increase the daily wages to Rs.137 from Rs.120 being paid now.
She said the government was extending ‘interest-free loans' to farmers and self-help groups to help them out from financial crisis besides, paying adequate compensation for crop damages. To avoid exploitation by middlemen, the government was allotting money to farmers by depositing it in their bank accounts, she said after inaugurating the ‘Prajapatham' programme at Purandla village in Maheshwaram mandal of Ranga Reddy district.
To ensure better power supply, two more electricity sub-stations were coming up in Nagaram and Gollapalli, she informed the gathering.
She also inaugurated the gram panchayat building in the village. When she enquired about the provision of basic amenities like drinking water, health care in the village, residents replied that bore wells had dried up and fetching drinking water was a task.
She said the Congress government is committed to solve the problems of the people and it has been conducting various programmes to solve their grievances for the past nine years, she added.
Recently,the Central Minister for Rural Employment Mr.Ramesh while crediting A.P for its successful implementation of NREGA scheme stated,that an amount to the tune of Rs.155 crores only was misappropriated in A.P,compared to other states.The admission of the minister concerned without any hesitation,about the misappropriation of funds meant for NREG scheme speaks volumes,as to what extent the tax payers money was being siphoned off.In such a scinario,one would wonder that the home minister's statement that NREGA scheme was extended up to 200 days along with increase of wage to Rs.137- might result of an increase in misapproprition to the tune of no less than Rs.300/- Crore.
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