Chhaya Misal from Shirur, hopes to get a job card from her gram panchayat soon that will assure her place as one of the two lakh beneficiaries of MREGS in the district. “Our gram panchayat will decide the nature of work and I am ready to undertake any kind of work which comes under this scheme for the village,” says Misal, an unskilled worker.

The scheme will also ensure wage parity, maternity benefits and family insurance for the women from 1,800 villages. The wages will be in the Rs 68 - Rs 72 per day range.

Devki Narvade from Shirur, a self-help group worker, is participating in a street play to spread the word about this scheme. “This will help the women folk understand the scheme better,” says Narvade.

Both Mangal Nevale and Sindhu Mate from Moshi village are keen to get the job cards as early as possible. “We wanted to be employed but till now had to make do with offers from outside our village. This will help us to work in our village and thus stay at home and work,” says Nevale.

That’s exactly what the scheme is propagating. “Work and earn in your own village and get your wages on time,’’ is what the employment department of the district collectorate has been communicating to the villagers.

The focus will be on soil and water conservation, river and nullah lining. The work schedule will be readied by each gram panchayat, which will then be forwarded to the taluka and later to the district officers.

“It will be an ‘inverted pyramid’ distribution of work. With the respective gram panchayats setting up their work requirement, it will seek more participation from the village level, rather than just district officers drawing up the plan. A special scrutiny team will also be appointed from these panchayats to assess the work regularly,” said collector Prabhakar Deshmukh.

Having met representatives of 1,400 gram panchayats in the district, the MREGS officers will identify the work, it cost estimations and the man days required.