AP Tops In Implementation Of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

AMARAVATI: In a major achievement setting precedent for other states, Andhra Pradesh tops in India in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The state contributes 14 per cent of India's achievement in terms of generation of person days, a daily reported.

It is for this achievement that the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department in the state have requested Centre for five crore more person days in addition to the 21 crore in the current fiscal.

Commissioner (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development) Girija Shankar said that due to COVID-19 induced lockdown, the workers are opting for MGNREGS works.

He said that arond 27 lakh people have attended MGNREGS works in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday alone.

Shankar explained that as workers came back from cities and left jobless during the lockdown period, they started taking part in MGNREGS works in their respective villages. The workers also included those working in hospitality services which includes hotels, restaurants among others.

He said that the reverse migration also increased the demand for jobs, and workers opted for opted for MGNREGS works.

"Apart from giving over 2.2 lakh job cards, the officials have also activated many job cards, which remained inactive for some time due to various reasons,” he said as quoted by the daily.

Not just this, Andhra Pradesh, also is in the top for COVID-19 tests. Till Friday, July 10, the state has conducted 11,15,635 samples test.

(inputs from TNIE)