Bengal to increase job days to 50 under MGNREGA

Kolkata: West Bengal will increase to 50 the job days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) from 19 till date in this fiscal and hold talks with banks to ensure wages at the end of each working day."Under MGNREGA, the average minimum days of work was 19 days in our state," state Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Subrata Mukherjee told reporters here Tuesday.

"We target that the number of days be increased to 50 within the current financial year," he added.

Currently it takes three to four weeks for the money given by the central government to reach people working under the project, he said.

"The government will hold talks with the banks and different agencies so that daily wage earners get their money by cash or cheque at the end of every working day," the minister said.

IANS