Allaying apprehensions about the management of the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh today said his ministry has written to the states and NGOs for “direction”.“We are writing to chief ministers, NGOs and social activists. We want to get direction from the people to make the scheme foolproof. We are looking at strict vigilance and accountability,” he said.According to the calculation it did with the Finance Ministry, the ministry would need Rs 4,000 crore from December 2005 to March 2006 to start the scheme in 200 districts. To begin with, it will use funds under the National Food for Work programme, which has a budget of Rs 6,000.In the last six months, the ministry has spent Rs 2,500 crore under the Food for Work Programme, which is implemented in 150 districts. This is considered peak period, when most of the allocation is used up, officials say. The remaining funds would be used to start the scheme, they add.The minister said various cost estimates were based on different calculations. ‘‘We won’t allow shortage of funds,’’ he added.The Planning Commission has selected 200 first-phase districts on the basis of SC/ST population, wage, and agriculture productivity. ‘‘They had forgotten the Northeast but one district was chosen from all the North-eastern states except Assam. The selection is not political but is based on these parameters,” the minister said.The minister allayed fears that the scheme would divert labour from the agriculture sector. ‘‘The scheme is for periods when there is no work in agriculture”, he said.Sources say the scheme is likely to be launched on either Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 or Children’s Day on November 14.
