From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Once again, the Left-ruled Tripura bagged the top position in creating maximum jobs under the national flagship programme- MGNREGA for the 2012-13 .
An average of 87 mandays were generated in Tripura during 2012-13 finanacial year (FY) while Mizoram finished top with 69 mandays and Tamil Nadu secured third spot with 51 mandays, according to statistics of the Rural Development Ministry. The national average of mandays under the national flagship programme stands at 39 days.
However, Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chowdhury was not happy with the role of the Centre.
Talking to media here on Wednesday Chaudhury sought timely release of funds for the implementation of MGNREG) for Tripura saying that the project is suffering from fund crisis in several areas of the state in the current financial year.
The Minister said that the Central government is not regular in releasing necessary funds under the central welfare scheme which has resulted in frequent troubles of implementation.
“We are managing continuity of work as of now with money from our state plan fund”, Chaudhury said. Chaudhury recently visited Gomati, South Tripura district, West Tripura district and Khowai districts.
Saying that the state government is committed to provide a total of 100 mandays assured under the NREGA scheme, Chaudhury expressed discontent at the role of the central government in releasing funds under NREGS and said, “Tripura has been the national topper in implementing MGNREGA for last several years. We generated 87 mandays – the highest in the country. It is sad that the central government hasn’t released timely funds to Tripura for better performance in the scheme”.
“The state government was expecting Rs. 400 crores in the first installment of NREGS fund release in the current labour budget’s tenure. They have given us barely Rs. 58 crores”, he added.
