Wage payments of a whopping ₹330 crore under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) have been stuck in Karnataka since September 7 because of non-transfer of funds from the Centre.
Karnataka is among the 19 States where wage payments, worth a total of ₹3,066 crore, have been delayed.
This has hit the labourers, who are now struggling to find an alternative. This wage payment pendency is apart from the ₹1,277.69 crore that was used as advance payment from the State funds to clear backlog in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H.K. Patil told The Hindu that MNREGA in the State had not received “a single paisa” from the Government of India since September 7. “Workers in the State have been waiting for their wages desperately for over two months. This is the second time wages have been delayed for such a long period. Last time, it was for three months from May,” he said.
Attributing the delay to the “callous attitude of the Union government,” Mr. Patil said the State could not do anything as for the last one year wages were paid by the Centre directly to the workers’ accounts through national e-fund transfer system. “Earlier, as the fund would be deposited with the State government and we were electronically transferring it to the workers’ accounts, we were taking advance amount from the State funds to make the pending payments. A total of ₹1,227 crore State fund used as advance is also pending from the Centre,” he said.
Dismissing reports that the State had not submitted audit report to the Union government, the Minister said: “It is unfortunate that a major scheme like MNREGA has been hit because of delay in release of payments. If the situation continues like this, Karnataka which has been doing well will lag in achieving the targeted person days,” the Minister said.
MNREGA Commissioner U.P. Singh said the State has managed to generate employment of over 91% of the targeted 10 crore person days last year. “We have been pursuing the issue of delayed payments with the Union government and are hopeful that wages will be released by next week,” he said.
K. Neela, leader of All India Democratic Women’s Association, said: “This suggests that the Centre is gradually trying to do away with MNREGA. It is unfortunate that the workers have to go without wages even after putting in their labour.”
Recently, rights group NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a network of various grassroots organisations, had also alleged that the Centre had frozen funds in 19 States.
