Assam Governor steers development in BTAD
Correspondent
GUWAHATI, August 09 2020 (HS): Though the COVID 19 pandemic has had its cascading effect on all fronts, the Governor’s reiteration to continue development activities amid this health emergency has yielded fruits in all the districts of Bodoland Territorial Area districts with key indicators showing positive growth.
After Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi took over the administration after expiry of the term of the BTC on April 27 this year, he took proactive role in spearheading socio economic development of the BTAD. In the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic situation followed by lockdowns that slowed down economic activities, Prof Mukhi asked the Administrator BTC Rajesh Prasad and the Principal Secretary BTC Dr. Siddharth Singh to draw a roadmap for the sustenance of economic activities in the area.
During the COVID 19 pandemic and its resultant lockdown, a total of 18766 migrant labourers returned to the four districts of the BTAD and out of them 10760 workers applied for job cards. Consequent upon their application 10538 people were given new job cards or engaged in existing job cards.
Though 1772 number of people showed their reluctance to receive job cards, 97.5 percent of people who had applied for job cards were given the same under MGNREGA schemes for a self-reliant state. It may be noted that the Governor had received several complaints regarding the misappropriation of job cards issued under MGNREGA and had asked the administrator to designate the respective BDOs to take care of people's welfare like handling of job cards that were primarily looked after by the VCDCs before their dissolution.
The Governor while changing the erstwhile practice of keeping the Job Cards with VCDCs, asked the administrator to get hold of all the Job Cards from the VCDC functionaries and hand them over to the beneficiaries. This helped the job card holders to enjoy the benefits of MGNREGA scheme freely.
BTAD since has also shown remarkable progress in the implementation of Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY-Gramin) scheme. During the period starting from April 27 6382 houses were completed. Besides, 171 houses were also built in the tea garden areas.