‘Forest fire management’ added as a new job area under MNREGA

File image: Villagers of Kumkhal village of Kalahandi district in Odisha return from MNREGA works.
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BISWARANJAN ROUT

The Centre has added “forest fireplace administration” as a brand new class of job work beneath the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Act (MNREGA), 2005, in accordance with a notification issued by the Rural Improvement Ministry.

It mentioned that “forest fireplace administration” has been added together with “afforestation, tree plantation and horticulture in frequent and forest lands, street margins, canal bunds, tank foreshores and coastal belts, duly offering proper to usufruct (individuals with the fitting can use the property, accumulate revenue from it, with out possession) to the households lined in Paragraph 5”.

Water conservation, water harvesting buildings, earthen dams, cease dams, test dams, watershed administration works comparable to contour trenches, terracing, contour bunds, boulder checks, gabion buildings and spring shed improvement, in addition to micro and minor irrigation works, together with creation, renovation and upkeep of canals and drains, renovation of conventional water our bodies, together with desilting, are among the work areas the federal government has allotted for MNREGA employees.

Even land improvement works in frequent land is a part of MNREGA, the place states permit job work.

Sources mentioned that Gujarat and another States had been utilizing MNREGA funds for forest fireplace administration by way of another provisions because it was not explicitly talked about within the listing and there was a requirement for its inclusion. Forest safety works like creation of fireplace traces assist in preservation and enchancment of forests which are threatened or affected by pure or man-made causes, in accordance with a report of the Gujarat authorities.

“Forest fires are a standard incidence between February and Might due to the recent and dry local weather, and so they pose a terrific threat to life and infrastructure. By means of MGNREGA, forest fireplace management actions together with boundary wall, fencing, and joint patrolling are undertaken for efficient safety of forests and wildlife,” the report mentioned. It had urged quite a lot of areas the place MGNREGA employees will be employed.

Stressing that real beneficiaries beneath the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure (MNREGA) Scheme aren’t excluded whereas stopping misuse of job playing cards, the Standing Committee on Rural Improvement and Panchayati Raj in April had requested the federal government to develop a system that enables handbook verification and corrections in order that employees aren’t “unjustly eliminated” from the flagship programme.

The Committee, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, had additionally mentioned that after kaccha (non permanent) work beneath MGNREGA is accomplished, it needs to be transformed into pakka (everlasting), wherever essential, to stop repetitive work cycles and wastage of sources.

The panel additionally urged that the Ministry of Rural Improvement ought to think about inclusion of catastrophe reduction and climate-resilient actions beneath the permissible ambit of the MNREGA in order that the agricultural populace is ready to satisfy challenges posed by local weather change.

Printed on August 8, 2025