Another letter from Andhra Pradesh goes to the Centre seeking funds. Besides the unfulfilled bifurcation promises, the outstanding funds related to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) has been added to the list of receivables.
‘Hoping for the best’
The State government has been waiting for the Centre’s response for the past few months for the MNREGS wage bill, according to the Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Information Technology Minister Nara Lokesh.
“It’s about ₹167 crore which is due to be paid as wages to the workers. The Chief Minister has already written to Union Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar. We are hoping for the best,” Mr. Lokesh said. The State government has been writing numerous letters seeking funds promised by the Centre as part of the AP Reorganisation Act for the Polavaram project, the Central institutions, the Dugarajapatnam port, the steel factory in Kadapa, the railway zone, the Special Category Status and bridging resource gap among others.
As per the targets set by the State, over 16 crore man-days of work was expected to be provided in the current fiscal and it costs over ₹3,000 crore. Most of the programmes were planned in the backward districts of north coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema which consume more than 60% of the funds, as per the government.
Electronic transfer
After the new system of direct electronic transfer from the Centre, the State government has done away with the practice of advance payment. The State machinery is now sending reports on the work done and the wage amount. “Earlier, we used to pay the workers immediately irrespective of transfer from the Centre. Now, the workers are forced to wait for the direct credit in the bank accounts,” said an official in the department concerned.
