West UP and NCR districts falter on MNREGS job front

LUCKNOW: The otherwise economically rich west UP and national capital region (NCR) are the worst-performing regions in terms of engagement of labourers under the Centre’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), according to the latest ranking by rural development department.
Out of 10 worst-performing districts under MNREGS, nine are from west UP or NCR.Districts from west UP which fare poorly include Kasganj, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Hapur and Baghpat, while those from NCR are Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad.
In fact, not a single labourer has been engaged under MNREGS in Ghaziabad. These nine districts have engaged only 63,000 labourers, including migrants.
Mahoba in Bundelkhand is the only region outside west UP which has performed poorly by engaging around 20,000 labourers. Notably, all these districts come under a red zone where construction activities are being carried out with restrictions.
Sitapur, Kheri Hardoi best in executing scheme
Socially and economically backward east UP region is the best performer.
Out of 58,906 gram panchayats in the state, MNREGS works are being conducted in 52,934 gram panchayats which is 90% of the target.
Earlier this week, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had asked officials to enhance the number of mandays from existing 42 lakh to 1 crore by June 15.
Data compiled by rural development department show that out of top 10 districts, seven are from east UP. These include Basti, Azamgarh, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, Mirzapur, Maharajganj and Prayagraj.
Sitapur, Kheri and Hardoi are other districts which are among the best in terms of execution of the scheme.
These 10 districts, all falling under green zone, together engage nearly 12 lakh labourers.
Data (updated till June 11) show that just over 42 lakh mandays of work was conducted under MNREGS in 20 green zone, 36 orange zone and 19 red zone districts. In the green zone, work is being carried out in 14,256 out of total 15,619 gram panchayats.
In 36 districts under orange zone, out of 29738 gram panchayats, MNREGS work is being conducted under 27,178 while in 19 red zones, 11,500 out of 13,549 gram panchayats are covered under MNREGS.
Rural development department officials said the number of mandays can be increased only when other departments raise demand for labourers for executing construction activities in their jurisdiction. “We need to focus on convergence of departments to increase work,” an official said.