The long wait for the wage arrears of work done over several months seems to have taken a toll on the unskilled workers engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Several of them are not too keen on taking up work this season as they are not sure of getting the wages on time.
“We have been waiting for our wages for so long. Many of us visit the bank often, with the hope that the wages would be credited. Now, even the people at the bank have started getting impatient with us. Several families here are struggling to make ends meet. People have borrowed money hoping that the wage would be credited and that has now compounded the problem. We also went and protested in front of the Nedumangad post office, but nothing has happened till now. Why would we want to work again, when wages of so many months are yet to be paid?,” asks Baby, an MGNREGS worker from Vamanapuram.
Few options
In the rural areas, unskilled workers have few other options, if they do not get work under the employment guarantee scheme. Those like Murugan survive during the period of no work by selling light snacks made at home, going door to door.
According to Binu, who co-ordinates MGNREGS works in Nellanad grama panchayat, there is shortage of workers as well as shortage of works to give to unskilled workers.
“Yes, the non-payment of wages has certainly affected them. Another problem now with the shift in focus to the creation of durable assets, we are unable to create enough work days for the unskilled workers,” he says.
₹600 crore in arrears
More than ₹600 crores in wage arrears is pending across the State. The Centre is understood to have initiated the steps to transfer the wages, which will be credited directly to the workers’ accounts.
Centre’s responsibility
As per rules, the Centre bears the wage component of the scheme and it is bound to disburse it within 15 days on engaging a worker. On failing to honour the commitment, a worker could stake claim for the compensation.
“We are not even asking for the compensation. We are just asking the wages for the work that we have done. Nothing more is needed,” says Murugan.
