MGNREGA workers rue delay in wages

Tribune News Service

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Bathinda, January 18

MGNREGA workers in the region are a perturbed lot as they are not getting payment of their wages on time. The workers rue that they do not get full payment of their wages as per the rate fixed by the government. Even they are not being issued work receipts. A meeting was convened to discuss plan of action in the matter by members of the Dalit Dasta Virodhi Andolan and the MGNREGA Workers’ Union in Mansa recently.

Notably, the daily wages, as per the MGNREGA guidelines, is Rs 241 per month, which workers claim that they have not been receiving for a long time now. The workers claim that they have not been getting even half of the stipulated daily wages under MGNREGA guidelines.

Jagshir Singh, general secretary of the union, said, “MGNREGA workers have not been receiving work receipts against the work performed by them. In the absence of work receipts, workers have been getting neither any work nor they get unemployment allowance.”

“As per the MGNREGA Act, workers who possess the MGNREGA job card, they must at least get wages for minimum 100 days on an annual basis. But not even a single worker in all villages has received these wages. Although the union government under the Swachh Bharat Mission made it mandatory for construction of toilets but there are a number of villages where people still are forced to defecate in the open. Their applications have been lying pending at the departments concerned,” added Singh.

Jiwan Singh, a worker, said, “The government has not been providing adequate work to us and whatever little amount of work had been assigned, we did not get payment of wages on time. The payment provided to us is also quite less than what is guaranteed under the scheme.”

During the meeting, other issues concerning MGNREGA workers and rights of workers were also discussed. Representatives of the union said the MGNREGA Workers’ Union Phillaur wing would be taking out a rally in Amritsar soon wherein workers from Mansa would also be participating.