Anantapur: NREGS workforce not utilised effectively for rural development

Anantapur: Majority of farmers and social workers opine that villages can be developed remarkably if the 7.90 lakh NREGS workforce with 5.30 lakh job card holders, some 3 lakh women workforce and a Rs.500 crore annual wage budget are utilised effectively.

They think that the national workforce is not put to constructive use. Farmers are disappointed that the workforce failed to rise to occasion by coming to the rescue of farmers due to fears of catching corona virus.

An educated farmer and social worker Jabez David said to 'The Hans India' that the NREGS workforce could have been put to use by engaging them in village reconstruction programmes including laying of roads, desilting of village tanks, infrastructure development and agriculture operations apart from constructing school and community buildings .

Secondly in the corona virus context, the workforce would have been utilised for agriculture and horticulture produce harvesting operations. Farmers lost hundreds of crores worth produce because there were no labourers to harvest their crops or help in loading operations.

Another educated farmer and social worker Suresh points out that the state governments have been ignoring the Gram Panchayats. This is a violation of the very spirit of Panchayath Raj Act, he adds.

Model farmer Thati Reddy alias Bush Reddy says that the face of every village can be changed and its outlook transformed if the workforce is utilised effectively.

NREGS workforce could have been used to come to farmers rescue for crop harvesting even by paying extra wages to those who come forward to bail out the farmers, he said.