Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said that Punjab had undertaken significant labour-intensive works in villages to effectively leverage the scheme even during lockdown.
The state government also plans to take up a special drive this year to enrol more workers and make new job cards to bring more families under the ambit of the programme. This initiative is aimed at addressing rural distress arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CM said.
The works includes engagement of two persons per village as ‘van mitras’ to nurture 550 saplings planted by the forest department last year. The state government, on May 12, also launched a cleaning and rejuvenation drive to cover over 15,000 village ponds.
These initiatives are helping to address the rural distress caused by the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic by directly transferring wages in the hands of the rural poor, the CM said.
From April 1, all MNREGS work estimates are being made through ‘SECURE’ software. And, in 2019-20 FY, Rs 767 crore was spent under MNREGS, which is the highest ever expenditure in state. With this, a record total of 2.35 crore man-days were generated during the year. The state government has now set a target of 2.50 crore man-days for 2020-21 FY.