Tripura Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha, during a review meeting of the Tripura State Employment Guarantee Council at the Secretariat, emphasized the importance of promoting local popular products in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'One District One Product' program.

The Chief Minister also suggested that products that are popular and have high production in specific districts of the state should receive greater attention and focus on cultivation.

“Apart from permanent Asset creation through MGNREGA in various Gram Panchayats and Villages of the State, emphasis should also be placed on the production of local popular products. All the products which are popular and produce more in the districts of the state should be given importance in the cultivation of all the products in the respective districts. It will also be possible to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'One District One Product' program”, said Dr Saha.

Dr Saha in the meeting reviewed the progress and future work plans of other projects of the Rural Development Department including MNREGA.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister said that the concerned departments should take initiative to select the beneficiaries of various projects from their own budget instead of relying only on MNREGA.

“Beneficiaries should also be encouraged to make some contribution in facilitating a project. In creating permanent assets under MNREGA, priority should be given to selecting the right beneficiaries so that it can be properly converted and perpetuated”, he said.

The Secretary of the Rural Development Department, Dr Sandeep R. Rathore, provided some statistics related to MNREGA in the state.

“There are a total of 6 lakh 77 thousand job card holders in MNREGA across 8 districts of Tripura. In the last financial year 2022-23, 3 crore 25 lakh mandays were sanctioned for MNREGA, but the state achieved 3 crore 34 lakh 55 thousand mandays, surpassing the target with 102.95 percent success rate. The state received a total fund of Rs 997.08 crore for MNREGA in the financial year 2022-23, the highest in the last 5 years, and Rs 414.78 crore has been received so far in the current financial year. Out of this, Rs 360.47 crore has already been spent”, he said.

As of July 31 of the current financial year, 1 crore 44 lakh 74 thousand mandays have been created out of 2 crore 50 lakh mandays sanctioned. A total of 3 lakh 57 thousand 348 works have been undertaken for MNREGA in the financial year 2023-24.

The Chief Minister directed that all the works implemented through MNREGA in the current financial years should be regularly supervised by the District Magistrates.