MGNREGA workers to get benefits on completion of 90 days

They include accident insurance, free medical treatment and social security pension

Construction work under MGNREGA project. Photo used for illustration purpose only. File

Workers engaged in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) in Rajasthan will get the construction labourer cards on the completion of 90 days of work in a year. The cards will enable them to get the benefits of various social security schemes.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said here on Tuesday the recent decision to give work at the MGNREGA sites on demand had provided a major relief to the rural populace during the pandemic. The workers will now get the benefits such as accident insurance, free medical treatment and social security pension through the cards.

With about 54 lakh labourers engaged under the MGNREGA in June, Rajasthan has occupied the top slot in providing jobs to migrant workers returning to their native villages.

The construction labourers are governed by the Rajasthan Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2009. Mr. Gehlot instructed the officials at a review of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department to arrange for expeditious payment of wages to the workers.

The department has preferred giving the individual beneficiary works such as land improvement or “Apna Khet Apna Kaam”, construction of cattle, goat and poultry sheds and piggeries and the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Awas Yojana tasks. Mr. Gehlot said this approach would create livelihood assets that could bring the beneficiaries out of poverty permanently.

To provide wage employment to a large number of labourers, the department will also focus on labour intensive community works such as development of pastures, playgrounds and crematoriums, model water reservoirs, irrigation works and plantation. The “Ek Gram Chaar Kaam” approach has highlighted the four-point focus on development of assets.

The Chief Minister also laid emphasis on providing market linkages to the women’s self-help groups manufacturing handicraft products. The review meeting was informed that the State government had set the target of creating 37 crore man-days in 2020-21, the highest in the country.