MGNREGA workers look for other options owing to late pay

Yet, many MGNREGA beneficiaries from the Cauvery Delta districts have been waiting for the payment for more than five months.This has forced the labourers to quit and look for other options that provide prompt payment. 

As per the MGNREGA Act, workers who possess the MGNREGA job card must at least get wages for minimum 100 days on an annual basis and pending dues must be paid within 15 days of completion of work. For any further delay, there is a provision of compensation payment.

The MGNREGA was initiated to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing guaranteed employment to adult members of every household on a volunteer basis. They do unskilled manual work to build durable assets such as roads, canals, ponds and wells.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005, which was later renamed MGNREGA, branched out to form Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It ensures employment within 5 km of a beneficiary’s residence at a minimum wage. If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance. 

According to official sources, 1.16 crore farmers and agricultural labourers from Tamil Nadu have registered themselves with the scheme and they have been depending on this wage for their livelihood. Though the scheme assures employment for at least 100 days, the beneficiaries in the Delta region complained that it has not been met, adding that they were not given wages for the past five months. Protesting the lack of payment, the workers said that they were not ready to work even if they were allotted work. 

“Since the local body elections were on, the works under MGNREGS were put on hold. Still, the labourers were involved in sanitary works, But they have not been paid for the work so far,” V Veerasenan from Ponnavarayankottai said. 

The plight of unpaid prevails not only in the Cauvery Delta region but also across the State, according to K Pakkirisamy, Thanjavur district secretary of All Indian Agricultural Laborers Union. “Though more than Rs 60,000 crore had been allotted by the Union government in the previous budget, only Rs 54,000 crore has been received so far. Remaining Rs 6,000 crore is yet to be disbursed and the delay has led to beneficiaries quitting the works,” said Pakkirisamy.

Several labourers have pending wage amounts between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000. Pallirisamy added that the officials have been citing elections as the reason for the delay in disbursing the fund and, since the elections are over now, they should consider putting the workers out of the misery. 

An official from the Rural Development Agency said that 25 per cent of the pending wages were disbursed before the local body polls and the amount was credited in each beneficiary accounts. The remaining fund would be received within a week and then, the pending amount would be disbursed subsequently, the official said on conditionof anonymity.