Few takers for MNREGA

Sukhmeet Bhasin

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 13

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) job scheme has failed to attract workers in the state. Out of 5.13 lakh families provided job under MNREGA, only 2,172 households have completed 100-day work so far in the current fiscal.

As per the Union Ministry of Rural Development, 12,42,334 households were issued job cards in the state this year. Out of these, only 5,97,746 households demanded employment and the government provided employment to 5,13,512 households but only 2,172 households have completed 100-days work so far.

Ludhiana tops the chart as 282 households have completed 100-day work in the district, while Moga is lowest as only 21 households have completed work in this district.

Sources said the scheme had failed to attract job card holder families for two reasons. Firstly, they are not paid their wages on time by the authorities on account of non-availability of funds. Secondly, under the scheme, they get meagre wages of Rs200 per day while they get wages of around Rs300 or more per day by doing work at construction sites or other places.

MNREGA scheme was started in 2005 to provide employment guarantee of at least 100 days in the rural parts of the country. Under the scheme, all persons above the age of 18 years, who register for employment, are given non-skilled work.

The Centre has increased the budget for MNREGA in the recently presented budget but year by year, workers are going away from the scheme.

Mahipal Sathi, state Finance Secretary, Dihati Mazdoor Sabha, said payment of crores was pending and the state government was using it as a political tool.