Over 49 lakh people got employment under the MGNREGA in Rajasthan on June 6, a jump of over 17 lakh compared with the same day last year, officials said.
However, they said the spike in numbers was not just because of the people who returned from other states due the coronavirus lockdown. A large number of them were local people who were rendered unemployed due to the lockdown.
State's MGNREGA Commissioner PC Kishan said, "Not just migrant workers, local people like barbers and laundrymen have been benefitted by the scheme."
He said 49,52,496 people were employed under the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act in 9,983 gram panchayats on Saturday. The state has a total of 11,346 panchayats.
A year ago on June 6, the number was 32,25,931, which is 17,26,565 less than this year's figures, he said. Kishan said there is also an evidence of how the scheme has proved to be a 'boon' for those who returned from other states.
The number of workers engaged under the scheme is relatively high in the border districts of the state to which most people who returned from other parts of the country belong.
In Udaipur district, he said 2,65,153 people were employed on Saturday, compared with 1,33,979 people given job last year. Similarly, in Dungarpur, 3,33,078 workers got employment as against 2,24,678 people last year.
In Bhundel gram panchayat of Khivsar panchayat samiti, around 2,000 people were employed for the maintenance of seven ponds. Over 200 were those who returned from other states.
Sarpanch Dharmendra Gaur said, "The MGNREGA has proved to be a boon for the unemployed people in this time of the crisis, whether migrants or local."
Officials claim that Rajasthan is presently on the top in terms of providing employment under the scheme. On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh was second with 41.721 lakh workers, they said.
Andhra Pradesh provided employment to 40.01 lakh people, followed by Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh who provided employment to 25.19 lakh and 24.96 lakh people, respectively.
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