Bhubaneswar, Sep 19 (IANS): Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced that his government would provide 50 more work days under MGNREGA to the labour force in the drought-affected areas of the state.

The state government decided to increase mandays of work from 150 to 200 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, a central scheme for rural employment, the chief minister said in a release.

Patnaik on Saturday reviewed the progress of the scheme in the state.

The Centre recently hiked the work days from 100 to 150 days in drought-hit areas.

The Odisha government would bear all costs for the additional 50 days, the release said.

The government has already spent Rs.802 crore under the scheme while it has targeted to spend more than Rs.2,000 crore by the end of the year, said the release.

It has set a target to create 7.6 crore mandays while it has already created 2.26 crore mandays this financial year.