Maharashtra government has decided to set up a separate commissionarate of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at the state level to ensure effective implementation of the ambitious central government project.

The commissionarate will be based in Nagpur, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

He said 13 new posts have been sanctioned while four existing posts from Mantralaya will be part of the new commissionerate.

According to him, states like Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have in place separate commissionerates to monitor and implement the central scheme and results have been good.

In the last three four years, compared to other states, it has been found that funds under the scheme have been under-utilised and the setting up of separate commissionerate will help to expedite the various works under the scheme, he added.