Govt to boost irrigation facilities

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that irrigation would be his Government’s main thrust area in order to step up production in the agricultural sector. He was launching the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) at Mukalmua under Barkshetri Development Block of Nalbari district.An official press release quoted the Chief Minister as saying at the function, “We will set fixed target for every district to tone up the irrigation system.”

It needs mention here that Nalbari has been included among the six new districts under the NREGA by the Central Government in addition to the seven districts in which implementation of the scheme started earlier. The State has now 13 districts in total where the scheme is being implemented. Nalbari has been allocated an amount of Rs 442 lakh for implementation of the scheme.

The scheme provides for at least 100 days of guaranteed employment to the cardholders within 15 days of their obtaining the cards. Or else, the Government would have to pay the wages to these people.The scheme encompasses different fields like irrigation, roads, flood control and anti-erosion works and if implemented properly would go a long way in bringing about a sea change in rural development, he said, reminding, however, that timely and proper utilization of the funds meant for the scheme is a must for creating assets and resources.

Addressing the function, Minister for Rural Development Chandan Brahma said that NREGA had been a huge success in the seven districts in terms of ushering in rural development as well as ensuring guaranteed job to unskilled labourers. He disclosed that over 9 lakh job cards had been issued up to March 31 last in the State and this generated 553.74 lakh man-days. Brahma specially praised Bongaigaon district where 255 schemes had been taken up with investments worth more than Rs 2 crore on each of the schemes.

Later addressing a meeting held on the occasion of Kisan Jagaran Sabha at the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex, Mukalmua, the Chief Minister said that his Government’s main objective was to ameliorate the condition of the farmers, labourers and poor and needy sections of the society by launching a two-pronged attack on illiteracy and poverty

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