Report on NREGA work in Vishakapatnam and Srikakulam districts
March 2009

AID supported NREGA implementation work (Upadhi Hakkula Sadhana) in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts through Nisarga Trust.  In Srikakulam district, this work is in collaboration with AID-India.

The Upadhi Hakkula Sadhana team took up activities to enable proper implementation of NREGA in Anakapalli, Buchipeta, Chodavaram, Kasimkota, Makavarapalem and Ravikamatham mandals of Vishakapatnam district and Ponduru and Santakavita as well as Kothuru, Palakonda, Seetampeta, Bhamini and Heera mandals of Srikakulam district.

Work-force:

Overall planning and coordination: P. S. Ajay Kumar

Srikakulam district: 5 members including 1 coordinator supported by AID (plus 2 members supported from other groups) in Ponduru & Santakavita mandals; 5 members (1 each in remaining 5 mandals) supported by other groups.

Vizag district: 18 members including 2 coordinators and office assistant supported by AID (plus 2 members supported by other groups),

There were totally 7 women working in both districts. Majority of the workforce was from BC and OBC sections, reflecting the more deprived sections of the villages where the intervention of Nisarga aims to focus. 7 workers are tribals (5 in Srikakulam district and 2 in Vizag district) and worked in tribal villages.

Areas of work

We began by making lists of 50 families per village. The idea was that these families could be kept track of for NREGA implementation in a focused manner. However, quickly we realized that it was more practical not to follow only these 50 families but extend services taking the village as a unit. This is also a more natural thing to do because both mobilization as well as grievances under NREGA are there for all families.

After our workforce received training, they took up the following tasks:

·         Securing job cards and file applications for employment
·         Securing payment orders and muster rolls using RTI and the internet.
·         Verifying actual payment situation in the villages
·         Creating awareness through cultural programs including street plays and wall writing, sometimes in conjunction with padayatra and jeep or cycle yatra
·         Filing complaints to the mandal office and the collector's office on specific cases
·         Taking issues to state level officers like Director of NREGS and Commissioner of Rural Development
·         Understanding the big picture of NREGA implementation in Andhra Pradesh
·         Building net work with other organization who are doing work in NREGS