In an exemplary effort to provide employment to the jobless during the continuing lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic, Odisha’s Nabarangpur district generated employment for 1,01,060 persons on Friday.
This massive creation of mandays is expected to rise further in the coming days, said Nabarangpur Collector Ajit Mishra. On Saturday, the number of persons employed through MGNREGA in Nabarangpur is expected to rise by another 5,000, he added.
From May 1 to June 10, a total number of 16, 69,139 mandays have been generated in Nabarangur district to allay distress of jobless ruralites during the lockdown. The Odisha government’s Panchayatiraj department had advised all district administrations to generate employment through MGNREGA to help out the poor as well as returned migrant labourers.
On April 23, the total number of persons employed through MGNREGA in Nabarangpur district was only 7,805. On that day, State Development Commissioner V.K.Pandian visited Nabarangpur to review measures to counter the COVID-19 threat and enhancement of livelihood sources. “During the review meeting he had stressed on enhancing livelihood projects including MGNREGA to meet the rising need of returning migrant workers due to the lockdown situation. Then on we took up planned effort to increase employment generation through MGNREGA in all the 10 blocks of the district on a war footing,” said the Collector.
Meticulous planning was made by the administration with involvement of local NGOs. Ten nodal officers were posted in ten blocks of the district to monitor the MGNREGA work. In each block one NGO with grassroot-level presence was chosen to work hand in hand with the administration. As an immediate measure, digging of 5,682 fish farming ponds was decided to be the main thrust of employment through MGNREGA in the district. At present, work on 1,000 ponds is continuing.
“Enhancement of demand among needy people for MGNREGA work was possible through involvement of NGOs, timely payment of wages, transparency through daily documentation by photographs from work sites and involvement of civil society members,” said Achyut Das, a senior social activist, whose organisation Agragamee is being used for proper implementation of MGNREGA projects in Tentulikhunti block of Nabrangpur. He praised Nabarangpur administration for ensuring timely payment of wages which is a major obstacle in attracting people to MGNREGA projects.
