Women to make bricks under job scheme

Pathanamthitta: Several women from Ommalur panchayath who have been assured jobs under the NREGA scheme have decided to try their hand at brick construction. The government has launched the brick construction project as part of the rural employment scheme in the wards of Attarikam, Vazhamuttam nd Emali West of the panchayath.

A group consists of 12 women workers and three units are already functioning within the panchayath. Each group plans to produce 300 bricks per day, for a combined output of 24,000 bricks in a month. The bricks made by them will be given to the Life Mission Housing Scheme.

Seventeen houses are being constructed in the panchayath under the scheme. Each house will be allotted 1,400 bricks free of cost. The scheme beneficiaries gain from free bricks worth Rs. 49,000 apart from the Rs 4 lakh granted to them under house construction.

One NREGA worker is guaranteed 100 working days with paid remunerations in a year. The work include brick construction, farming, construction of roads, ponds, toilets, wells and many more. Such initiatives have made Ommallur a model of growth.