Modi government generated 813 crore man-days of rural work in 3...

New Delhi: Union Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Narendra Singh Tomar addresses at the launch of “An Open Mind” - a film series o...

New Delhi: Union Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Narendra Singh Tomar addresses at the launch of “An Open Mind” - a film series on the Swachh Bharat movement in New Delhi, on Aug 11, 2016. (Photo: IANS)

The government created rural employment opportunities of more than 813 crore man-days during the last three years under MGNREGA, Pradhan Mantri AawasYojna, Grameen (PMAY-G) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) schemes, Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Saturday.

"During the last three years while 636.78 crore person days were generated under MGNEREGA, about 78 crore person days were under PMGSY and 99 crore person days under PMAY," said Tomar, briefing mediapersons here.

He said under the Deen Dayal Upadhyay-Grameen Kaushal Yojana (DDY-GKY), 86,120 candidates were trained in 2014-15 and 54,196 got jobs.

"In 2015-16, about 135,000 candidates got placement after skill training, while in 2016-17, the number of candidates getting placement is 84,900," he added.

He said that Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETIs) trained 400,000 rural youth in 2016-17 for Self Employment.

According to the ministry, under MGNREGA during 2016-17, more than 1.23 crore assets have been geo-tagged and placed in public domain and about 96 per cent of wage payments were electronically credited into the accounts of the workers through DBT system.

"So far, 8.73 crore Aadhar number of workers have been seeded in NREGASoft (MIS) and 4.73 have been enabled for Aadhar Based Payment with their consent," said the Minister.

Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), the Minister said that the pace of construction of roads has reached a record of 130 km per day.

"This is the highest average annual construction rate in the last seven years, with a record 47,447 km of PMGSY roads constructed during 2016-17 connecting 11,641 habitations. This implies providing connectivity of an average of 32 habitations every day," said Tomar.

Tomar further said providing safe drinking water is one of the top most priority of the government and it is committed to providing tap water on a sustained basis in every household by 2030 as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

"About Rs 23,000 crore of central fund will be required annually till the target is achieved," he said.

Referring to the launch of National Water Quality Sub-Mission on Arsenic and Fluoride, Tomar said about 28,000 affected habitations in the country will be provided safe drinking water by March 2021 with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore.

"Sanitation coverage has increased from 42 per cent in 2014 to 64 per cent in the current year and more that four crore toilets were constructed," he said.

Under the 14th Finance Commission, the Centre will be releasing more than Rs 2 lakh crore to Gram Panchayats for 5 years to undertake physical and social infrastructure projects in the villages.

"So far, Rs 51,234 crore was allocated to the states and 44 lakh panchayat functionaries were provided training," Tomar said.