Govt Extends Rural Job Plan To 5 More Districts

Kolkata/ Berhampur: The Central government will extend the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme to another five districts in Orissa. The districts to be covered under the 100 day job guarantee in the rural areas in a year are Angul, Bargarh, Balesore, Bhadraka and Jajpur, said Chandra Sekhar Sahu, the Union minister of state for rural development. Herewith, the total number of districts to be covered under the Centrally sponsored scheme in the state will be increased to 24 out of total 30 districts in the state, Sahu told reporters. In the first phase of the programme, launched in 2005 last, 19 districts were covered. Finance minister P.Chidambaram in his Budget proposal for 2007-08 has proposed to extend the NREGP to another 130 districts across the country. The Union minister however clarified that the selection of the districts to be covered under the job guarantee programme was made by the Planning Commission and there was no role of the Ministry of Rural Development in it. A total allocation of Rs 12,000 crore was made in the Budget proposal under the scheme, which was up from the previous year''s Rs 11,300 crore when the programme was implemented in 200 districts. This year''s budget allocates Rs 2,800 crore for Sampoorna Gramini Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) for rural employment in the districts not covered by the NERGP. The allocation for the for the self employment programme of Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) for the year 2007-08 will be Rs 1,800 crore, which was up by Rs 800 crore.