‘Operation Chaturbhuj’ helping stranded villagers earn livelihood

After taking up cudgels for doctors, police, army and SSB who were fighting against dreaded Covid-19 pandemic by providing them quality personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, chief development officer (CDO) Arvind Singh has now launched ‘Operation Chaturbhuj’ to help unemployed rural folks find employment.

After taking up cudgels for doctors, police, army and SSB who were fighting against dreaded Covid-19 pandemic by providing them quality personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, chief development officer (CDO) Arvind Singh has now launched ‘Operation Chaturbhuj’ to help unemployed rural folks find employment.

He said ‘Op Chaturbhuj’ is a road construction project and aimed at fulfilling four objectives.

“The project under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) is aimed at providing livelihood to thousands of job-seekers, mitigate disputes after demarcations of roads, provide road connectivity after ‘chakbandi’ and boost environment through plantation on either side of roads,” Singh said.

Singh said under this project, earthen-road construction (chak roads) work had been initiated in all those villages where ‘chakbandi’ or consolidation of landholding was completed within last decade but roads were not built.

“Work started at Parsa village in Nakha block,” Singh said. “But soon after the lockdown, people from other districts and even states started coming to Kheri,’ he added.

“After completing their quarantine these people are now in search of livelihood. Several of them possessed job cards too, though they were inactive,” he said.

“We chalked out a plan to extend the road construction works in all the blocks of the district on the pattern of Parsa village and now 48,079 rural people are earning their livelihood under the project and over Rs one crore had been paid to them as remuneration,” he added.

Singh said to generate more jobs under the project, ponds within 400 meters of canals were also being dug up. These ponds would be provided water through the canals, Singh said.

Singh had earlier started ‘Operation Kavach’ under national rural livelihood mission (NRLM) to provide PPE-kits to frontline fighters against COVID-19. He had earned accolades from the centre and the state government for his effort.

Deo Kant Pandey