Tripura demands increase in NREGA work to 200 mandays 

Agartala, Sep 9 : Tripura has urged the Centre for enhancement of mandays from 100 to 200 days while pointing out that more than 60 per cent of the total population belong to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) group, covering mostly the rural population.

Addressing a conference of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Ministers today at Vigyan Bhawan, Tripura RD Minister Jitendra Choudhury alleged that the second instalment of NREGA fund was released about after six months in last fiscal, affecting the state severely. 

''In order to upgrade the livelihood and to develop socio-economic condition of rural poor, it requires to enhance mandays to 200,'' Mr Choudhury said, adding that the meeting discussed the features of the proposed National Rural Livelihood Mission (NLRM) and the emerging issues in NREGA. 

He demanded to ensure timely release of fund, allocated under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) for smooth implementation of the programme.

He also demanded to maintain flexibility in the guidelines of permissible works and allowed the state to commensurate the state specific requirements rather than imposing any stipulated nature of work to bring tangible changes to the rural economy. 

The meeting would provide the forum to seek the views of various stakeholders in finalising the details of the NLRM for having a focused approach on poverty eradication in a time bound manner and other important issues on the agenda would be streamlining the implementation and monitoring of NREGA to strengthen the delivery mechanism.