Bihar slow in implementing NREGA: Union Govt

The Centre on Tuesday pulled up Bihar government for the "slow" implementation of the rural job guarantee programme.

The Centre on Tuesday pulled up Bihar government for the "slow" implementation of the rural job guarantee programme and rejected the "lame excuses" forwarded by the NDA-ruled state for it.

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"The implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Bihar is slow and the state government reasons for this are lame excuses," Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Taking a serious note of the pace of implementation of the NREGA in Bihar, he took the opportunity to laud some other states for the progress made by them in the matter.

Singh, who reviewed the performance of states in the northern and western regions, made a special mention of Bihar though it was not on today's agenda.

"UP started it very late but has picked up well. But, Bihar and to some extent Punjab have been very passive," he said.

Under NREGA, which was launched in 200 selected districts of the country in February this year, over 90 lakh rural households have been provided with employment entailing an expenditure of over Rs 2,000 crore.

Asserting that every eligible applicant has been provided job within the stipulated time frame, he said there has been no such occasion so far to pay unemployment allowance.

With a view to giving a push to the ambitious programme, the Minister said it was proposed to give incentives to states performing well.

Kerala and some Northeastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim are yet to start the programme.