Gangtok, April 25: In Sikkim, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was initially launched in 1 district of the State and another 2 districts have been added in the year 2007-08. Up to February, 2007, 0.04 lakh households demanded employment and all of them were provided employment in the State. The average number of households provided employment in a district of the State is 3,969 while the national average is 91,685 households. The number of person days of employment provided in the State is 2.34 lakh. The average person days of employment provided in a district is 2.34 lakh compared to the national average of 36.47 lakh person days. An amount of Rs. 4.51 crore has been released to the State during 2006-07. Against this, the utlisation up to February 2007, is Rs. 2.50 crore, which is 55.36% of the total availability. The expenditure on wages is 79.73% and material is 20.27%. The average expenditure of a district in the State is Rs. 2.50 crore compared to the National average of Rs. 35 crore. The Act provides that 1/3rd of the employment provided should be to women. In the State 24.79% person days of employment has been provided to women, 0.73% to SC and 97.86% to members of ST.
