Aug 04: The 8th meeting of Andaman & Nicobar Employment Guarantee Council (ANEGC) was held under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Lt. Governor, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd) at Raj Niwas today. The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, Adhyaksha, Zilla Parishads of South Andaman and North & Middle Andaman, Pramukh, Block Prothrapur, Secretaries of various departments, Deputy Commissioners and representative from Tribal Council, Car Nicobar. The Director (RD/Panchayat) welcomed all the members of the meeting and briefed the status of implementation of MGNREGA in the UT of Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the financial year 2015-16 & 2016-17, through a power point presentation.
The Director (RD/Panchayat) informed the members that during FY 2015-16, the performance under MGNREGA was below the targets due to non receipt of sufficient programme funds from Ministry of Rural Development, Govt of India, New Delhi due to high Administrative expenditure.
Reviewing the status of implementation of MGNREGA for the said financial year, the Hon’ble Lt. Governor appreciated the efforts made by the MGNREGA team of North & Middle Andaman for undertaking the works of constructing Anganwadi Centers & Wooden Bridges, Poultry & Goat shelters, Temporary Helipads and Grazing Land development Projects which may result in sustainable development of the people and the area of the said District.
The Hon’ble Lt. Governor observed that the Administrative Expenditure under MGNREGA in the entire UT is very high and accordingly directed all the concerned Deputy Commissioners to take necessary initiative to curtail the exceeding Administrative Expenditure in their respective Districts. Further, he also desired that a letter giving proper justification with regards to high Administrative cost due to peculiar and challenging conditions in the islands may be written to Ministry of Rural Development. He further directed that time may be sought from Hon’ble Union Minister, MoRD by the end of the month for explaining our case to him and seeking special dispensation for the Islands.
Smt. Minati Biswas, Adhyaksha, Zilla Parishad South Andaman requested Hon’ble Lt. Governor, A & N Islands for necessary training to all the three tiers of PRIs with regard to implementation of MGNREGA. The Hon’ble Lt. Governor appreciated the necessity for capacity building of the PRIs for proper monitoring & execution of MGNREGA works, and asked Director (RD/Panchayat) to organize District wise training programmes for different levels of PRIs.
