Hyderabad: The panchayat raj department will implement works worth Rs 1,372 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), said panchayat raj minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka.Addressing a meeting with officials on MNREGS on Friday, the minister said works taken up under this programme in villages should be directed at improving the income of farmers. The works that would be taken up over the next five months under this programme will be laying off and repairing the paths to fields, rainwater harvesting works, creating basic amenities in villages and horticulture works.Generating employment for women also should be a priority, Seethakka told the officials, and to this end, approvals were given for spending Rs 106 crore on the Indira Mahila Shakti scheme involving women’s self-help groups. This will include the construction of cattle and poultry sheds and vermicompost pits.The meeting was attended by secretary of panchayat raj and rural development Lokesh Kumar, commissioner of panchayat raj Anitha Ramachandran, special commission Shafiullah, director of women and child welfare Kanthi Wesley and panchayat raj engineer-in-chief Kanakarathnam.
