Assam Tops in NREGA Complaints in Northeast

By Rahul Karmakar

Guwahati, Mar 2 : Assam has topped the list of complaints related to implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the north east.

The list covers all complaints that the ministry of rural development received till 31 March 2010. According to the ministry, Assam has 30 comp

laints, followed by Manipur with seven, Nagaland with five, Tripura with two and Mizoram and Sikkim with one each. All complaints have been forwarded to the states concerned for appropriate action.

"MGNREGA is a demand based legislation. Funds are released to the states and union terrotiries based on the labour demand arising at the field level," said minister of state for rural development Pradeep Jain Aditya.

The north east comprising eight states, Jain said, was provided Rs 1882.30 crore under the MGNREGA during the 2010-11 fiscal. Assam was the largest beneficiary with Rs 532.71 crore, followed by Nagaland with Rs 392.47 crore and Tripura with Rs 303.07 crore.

Manipur received Rs 236.32 crore, Mizoram Rs 187.54 crore, Meghalaya Rs 163.07 crore, Sikkim Rs 37.72 crore and Arunachal Pradesh got Rs 29.40 crore during the current fiscal.