Odisha: Ganjam administration faces fund crunch for construction of Anganwadi centres

The Ganjam district administration in Odisha is struggling to implement various projects, including construction of Anganwadi centres, under a rural job scheme due to a fund crunch, an official said on Tuesday. The district authorities have taken up construction of 1,029 Anganwadi buildings and several other infrastructure projects under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the 2021-22 fiscal.

''The building construction for the Anganwadi centres in the district was almost stopped due to the shortage of funds to buy materials, the official said. These facilities are running across the country as part of the integrated child development services programme. Ganjam, which topped in generating person-days under the rural employment programme, lagged in the completion of projects among many other districts. The rate of competition of these projects in the district stood at 83 per cent, the official said.

''Over Rs 93 crore was pending with the government for release to the district authorities for payment of the material cost. We have almost cleared the payments of labourers engaged under the scheme,' he said.

Berhampur MP Chandra Sekhar Sahu said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for release of the funds under the MGNREGA.

The job scheme has helped rural people sustain their livelihood during the COVID-19 pandemic as thousands of migrant workers returned to their native places after losing jobs in the lockdown period, he said.

''Non-release of funds under the labour-intensive programme has affected the infrastructure development and labourers are also deprived of employment,'' Sahu said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)