Stressing the importance to bring transparency and accountability in the implementation of the MGNREGA scheme, the Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Sheetal Nanda today directed the recently-appointed Ombudsmen to redress all genuine grievances related to MGNREGA works at the district level.Nanda asked the Social Audit Resource persons to create awareness among the people so that quality work can be maintained as per the guidelines.These instructions were issued in a meeting held at Directorate Rural Development, Lal Mandi with Ombudsmen and Social Audit Resource Persons.Chairing the meeting, Nanda said that the beneficiaries should know their complete rights and provisions of the MGNREGA scheme so that they can avail all the benefits of the scheme.She reiterated that MGNREGA provides livelihood across rural India including the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir. She said more and more awareness needs to be created about the rights and provisions of the scheme so that more employment is generated among the rural poor.
She added that the beneficiaries should demand work by themselves for which awareness is a prerequisite. She further said that people should know the kind of work that are being construction, the quality of works and whether those are beneficial to general public or not.She directed the Ombudsmen to start hearing the grievances so that complainants can visit them and get their grievances redressed.She further directed that the Good Governance initiatives of the Department should be visible on the ground level.The Rural Development Department has engaged 11 Ombudsmen in 22 Districts of Jammu and Kashmir for the redressal of MGNREGA related grievances and has a force of 16 District Resource Persons in its Social Audit Society.The meeting was attended by Director Rural Development, Kashmir, Qazi Sarwar, Additional Secretary to Government, Department of Rural Development, Rakesh Badyal and Ombudsmen and the Social Audit Unit Officials.