The Assembly on Thursday demanded that the Centre clear the ₹683.89-crore wage arrears due to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the State.
A resolution moved by Local Administration Minister K.T. Jaleel said out of the 32.39 lakh families having job cards, 18.34 lakh families were actively rendering jobs envisaged under the scheme.
About 90% of the beneficiaries were women. Despite the government taking up the issue a number of times and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Centre has not cleared the arrears. This is unjustified, he said.
When the schools reopen in June, the women beneficiaries were hoping to use the wages for paying the fee and buying study material for the students.
Now their hopes have been dashed.
Though the Centre had granted Plan assistance to various States in April, Kerala was deprived of its due. Many States got more than its due too, he said.
Against the ₹2,146.05-crore due in 2016-17, the Centre had granted only ₹1,386.70 crore.
Dr. Jaleel said the State government has decided to increase the material component of the scheme to 30% to create more durable assets and also met other norms laid by the Union government.
The House demanded release of the arrears at the earliest.
