M Rafi Ahmed|ENS Coimbatore JOBS galore for villagers, but very few takers for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). And the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) here has left no stone unturned to popularise the scheme across the rural belt. Sources said lack of interest among the villagers was the reason for the scheme facing hiccup. However, a DRDA official said people were now keen on taking up jobs after a series of meetings conducted by panchayat presidents who are the implementing agency for NREGS. According to figures available at the BDO's office incharge of NREGS, 2,96,265 persons from 1,80,679 families across 389 village panchayats in the district have been registered for the employment guarantee scheme. Even job cards had been issued to them. DRDA sources said that about 712 works had been iden tified in the village panchayats at an estimate cost of Rs 25,897 crore. Even administrative sanction had been given for the said works, of which, 201 have already commenced. Express spoke to some of the panchayat presidents who said the scheme was moving at a snail's pace with very few people turning up for the jobs. The wage factor is said to be a reason for the slow pick-up. Under NREGS, the villagers are paid Rs 80 for seven hours work against Rs 120 and Rs 150 they get in other jobs like mills and industries. Sources said Kinathukadavu block is doing extremely well while Pongalur, Anamalai, Pollachi north and south, Karamadai and Sarkar Samakulam blocks had received good response for the scheme. It is a sad commentary that this unique Centrally-funded scheme offering guaranteed job for 100 days in a year for every household who can do unskilled manual work failed to evoke interest among the rural mass.