KATTAPPANA: The District Planning Council has cleared 205 watershed projects to be implemented through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the 30 grama panchayats of the district. An official with the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), which is the implementing agency, said that about 30 projects, including digging of ponds in farmlands, weed clearance and construction of bunds to prevent soil erosion and rain water collection could be taken up under the scheme.
It is expected that projects under MGNREGS could be implemented in around 1,83,000 hectares of land in the district and the watershed projects will turn to be one of the major employment creating areas under the scheme, he said. Konnathady, Peruvanthanam, Nedumkandam and Adimaly grama panchayats will take up more than 10 watershed programmes, as per the list cleared by the council.
According to the official, MGNREGS will be implemented in a way to provide support to the farm sector in the High Range areas where labour shortage is a major problem. In Kanjikuzhy, Rajakumari, Vathikudy and Nedumkandam grama panchayats, where watershed projects have already started, focus will be on the completion of projects and spreading of them to more areas, he said.
Source: The Hindu
Online edition
Thursday, Feb 25, 2010
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