Work that has been done under MGNREGA in convergence with other departments of the state government in Malda will soon be followed as a model in Maharashtra. A three-member committee led by the commissioner of MGNREGA in Maharashtra, ASR Naik, toured the district on Wednesday and on Thursday, while Mr Naik took a detailed report on the ongoing projects here.

The team will be returning to Maharashtra with a detailed roadmap for implementation of the projects in a similar fashion there after a thorough planning, it is learnt.

According to sources, nine projects with detailed documents, estimates and photos were shown to the team by the district administration in the last two days, while a conference was also arranged for them with all officials concerned for a perfect demonstration of the projects.

Sukanta Saha, the district project and rural development officer, who had been a guide to the team, said, “We exhibited nine projects to the team, some running successfully and some under construction. They took notes of every single detail and returned to Maharashtra on Thursday, where they are to implement these ideas after planning. Our district worked very well in the 100 days’ work scheme last year, and has been doing very good this financial year too.” He added that they could produce 58 days of work on an average for almost 2,48000 families at a cost of almost Rs 3.5 crores.

According to sources, the team paid a visit to the Eco Tourism Park project (photo) at the Sagardighi Fish Firm, which is set in association with the Fisheries, Tourism, Finance Commission and Minority departments, the orchard floor management (OFM) and the horticulture department, which is also using the vacant land in mango orchards for production of some other crop.

They were also introduced to nurseries run by self help groups (SHG) in cooperation with the horticulture and agriculture departments, and mushroom cultivation projects. Among the others, the river or canal rejuvenation project connecting Ganga and Bhagirathi Rivers exclusively run by women workers and supervisors in cooperation with the agriculture and irrigation departments were also presented to the team, it is learnt.

Sources said the committee was very happy while visiting the Narhatta Fly Ash Brick Field in the English Bazaar Block, which is running a project worth Rs 31,17,086 and is running independently, while producing 2000 pieces of bricks per day in association with the State Finance Commission.

“The district has been looked upon as a model of MGNREGA work, while in association with other departments of the state government. We provided the visiting team with everything they looked for and we hope to see Malda-model being followed in the other parts of the country too,” Malda District Magistrate, Kaushik Bhattacharya, said.