In Madhya Pradesh, Naxal-affected Balaghat district has secured the first position in the state in terms of providing employment to rural job card holders under MNREGA. One lakh 23 thousand 64 laborers are getting employment. In the current financial year 2020-21, an amount of Rs 20 crore has been spent on wages for MGNREGA works in this district.<br />''<br />''A total of 5,246 works are in progress in 684 gram panchayats in Balaghat district. Due to this one lakh 23 thousand 64 laborers of the district have got employment. In the time of corona induced lock down, the works of MGNREGA have been started in the district from April 20 and in just one month, 17 lakh days of employment has been created from MGNREGA in the district.<br />''<br />''To prevent corona infection, masks have been distributed to one lakh 8 thousand labourers. On the other hand, so far three lakh 64 thousand 700 quintal food grains have been distributed to the labourers from the State Disaster Relief Fund. State Food Minister Govind Singh Rajput informed that more than 2 crore food packets and 83 lakh packets of food grains have been made available to one lakh 88 thousand people in the state so far. The toll free food help line is continuously working in the state from April 1. <br />