The UPA government's flagship social sector programme — the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) — will now be able to create permanent infrastructure assets, giving the seven-year-old scheme providing livelihood to almost 5 crore families annually an altogether new direction. The rural development ministry has decided to include building railway underpasses under the ambit of NREGS. An official announcement is expected shortly. “We have allowed the construction of railway underpasses in the list of permissible works as it is in synergy with achieving the twin objectives of supplementing agricultural income and providing more work,” said a senior rural development ministry official.“We have expanded the ambit of the scheme because of requests by the state governments which complained of insufficient work like digging of ponds,” the official added.

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