26,700 may get MNREGS jobs in Udupi district

‘Corruption free’ administration promised by Tenka panchayat‘Munguli Model’ to be implemented for all BPL families in the district

N. Sheena Shetty, Ombudsman for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), said on Tuesday that steps are being taken to provide jobs to all 26,710 poor families without toilets in Udupi district under MNREGS.

Mr. Shetty said that he had interacted with the CEO of Zilla Panchayat and other MNREGS implementing officials in Udupi district. He had asked them to provide jobs to all these families. Under the ‘Namma Bhoomi, Namma Thota’ scheme, each of these families would be encouraged to develop their own plantations or gardens. They could grow arecanut, jasmine, mangoes and others crops under the scheme.

Under the ‘Namma Mane, Namma Bavi’, jobs could be given to the NREGA job card holders to dig wells near their houses. The executive officers of Udupi, Karkala and Kundapur Taluk panchayats and Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) of all 146 gram panchayats, had been told to put up information boards at the panchayat offices giving details of the NREGS and other schemes. There was detailed discussion on this matter at a workshop held here on October 19.

The president, members and PDOs of the Tenka gram panchayat had given written letters to him (Mr. Shetty) on November 18 stating that they would provide a ‘corruption free’ administration in the panchayat. “This is the first such kind of initiative in Udupi district,” Mr. Shetty said.

The Tenka panchayat in Udupi district had decided to ask all job card holders to construct cow sheds under the MNREGS before March 2014. As many as 18 families had already constructed cow sheds in Tenka village under the scheme. This too was happening for the first time.

Munguli Koraga, a person belonging to the backward Koraga community, had cultivated arecanut, jasmine, pepper, coconut in his half-acre field. His house had a bathroom and a toilet. He also had two cows, hens and goats, at Miyar village in Karkala taluk. “Mr. Munguli did all this on his own. So I, ZP CEO, PDOs and other officials, had visited his house on October 30. We held a motivational programme for the officials at his house so that we can implement the ‘Munguli Model’ for all BPL families including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the district”, Mr. Shetty said.