Centre assures to release over Rs 1,000 crore to Karnataka under MGNREGA: Eshwarappa

The state govt asked the Centre to up days of employment from 100 a year to 150 a year in flood-affected districts

The Centre has assured to release Rs 1,119 crore for payment of material bills under MGNREGA, Rural Development Minister K S Eshwarappa said on Wednesday.

Eshwarappa, who met Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, said that the Union Minister assured release of funds once the state submits utilisation certificate for spending made under MGNREGA so far.

The state has done exceedingly well in employment generation under MGNREGA this year. Out of the target of 13 crore man-days of employment to be created, 10.50 crore man-days of employment has already been created. The Union Minister has assured that the Ministry will take a decision on allotting additional target of 2 crore man-days to Karnataka soon. With this the state will get an additional allocation of Rs 900 crore during this year, Eshwarappa said.

The state has sent a proposal for increasing the per family employment from 100 days a year to 150 days a year in the 173 taluks that have been declared as flood-affected by the Disaster Management Department of the state government. The Union Minister has assured that an early decision will be taken to revise the employment from 100 to 150 days per family in those 173 taluks. By this, the state is receiving additional funds to the extent of Rs 400 crore, he said.

The state also requested the Ministry of Rural Development to sanction additional 90 clusters of villages for development under the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee R-Urban Mission. The Union Minister has assured to consider this demand favourably, he said.