VIJAYAWADA: YSR Congress MPs have asked centre to release Rs. 6,750 crore pending funds for AP under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The MPs met union minister for rural development and panchayat raj Giriraj Singh and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
The ruling party MPs also met union minister for national highways Nitin Gadkari seeking upgrading of certain highways in the state into national highways.
YSRC MPs Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose, A. Ayodhya Rami Reddy, Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy, G Madhavi and P. V. Mithun Reddy informed Giriraj Singh that AP has topped all states by providing 18.4 crore person days of employment to wage seekers under MGNREGS. They claimed that AP stood first at the national level in providing maximum number of average days of employment per household up to June since the inception of the scheme in 2006.
The MPs said as many as nine districts achieved 1 crore person days of employment. This was possible because Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had reviewed the status of MGNREGS with district collectors every fortnight.
Apart from seeking the pending Rs. 6,750 crore payment from the centre, the YSRC MPs wanted the unit cost of an Anganwadi centre enhanced to Rs. 20 lakh, permission for utilising MGNREGS funds for paying wages towards planting of stones during resurvey of lands, revision of labour budget for 2021–22, and permission for raising new coffee plantations under MGNREGS to benefit poor tribals in Paderu area of Visakhapatnam district.
The MPs wanted enhancing of working days from 100 to 150 under MGNREGS. They said that in the present scenario, the rural economy needs to be rejuvenated with income-generating activities and such enhancement of working days will revive rural economy.
