LOW WAGE MAJOR MGNREGS HANDICAP IN NUAPADA

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LOW WAGE MAJOR MGNREGS HANDICAP IN NUAPADA

Wednesday, 13 November 2013 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA | in Bhubaneswar

    

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A group of seven labourers led by one Nilamani Ghibela of Khariar block worked in a road improvement project under MGNREGS in Padmapur village under Badi gram panchayat (GP).

After 14 days of work, the group excavated 12,678 cubic feet (cft) of earth but instead of being paid their actual due of Rs 29,209 in total, they were paid only Rs 14, 014 by the panchayat authorities.

Likewise, another group headed by Rajindra Bag with six labourers excavated 9,556 cft in 14 days and were paid Rs 12,012 instead of Rs 22,016 which was their actual due as per measurement of the excavated pits.

There are 15 such groups in Padmapur village with 61 labourers, who have excavated about 9.5 lakh cft but have been paid only half of their dues. When the actual due in total for all the groups is Rs 2, 19,100, they have been paid only Rs 1.22 lakh.

“This is one of the most difficult problems we are facing in the implementation of MGNREGS,” said Executive Officer (EO) of Badi GP Prafulla Naik.

“Each worker on an average is excavating between 100 cft to 130 cft. The schedule rate of payment per 100 cft is Rs 230.39 in soft soil but we cannot pay this amount because the wage rate is Rs 143. Under this circumstance, we carry over the wage to the next week and if the labour is working continuously, then it takes months together to clear the payment,” Naik added.

The records of the road work of Padmapur village reveal that the labourers would have to wait for another 12 days without doing any work to get their dues of 14 days cleared. And for this period, the GP staff members have to generate fake muster rolls.

DRDA Project Director Pradeep Naik also said that this is one of the main reasons for the delay in wage payment although some other issues like opening of accounts in the banks and post offices are equally challenging.

“The burden has now increased, because we have to open more than one bank account for each household,” the PD explained.

In spite of the difficulties, the implementation in MGNREGS during the current year has been encouraging. The district has already spent Rs 16.76 crore under the flagship programme in the current financial year, which is more than the achievement of corresponding period of the previous year.

A significant achievement is that the programme has helped 5,091 migrant workers in the rainy season this year to get rid of exploitation by contractors, who force them to migrate under distress conditions. By investing Rs 539.38 lakh between July and October in 398 projects under MGNREGS, the district has generated 1.96 lakh days of employment, which means each migrant labourer has been provided about 40 days of work on an average in last four months.

MGNREGS has no provision of giving advance wage, which is a practice adopted by the labour contractors to exploit, but by regularizing the payment of wage on the basis of pit excavated, the migration can be checked effectively.

“We can generate more employments in land development works in private lands. But it is not possible, because there is a restriction of Rs 50,000 for each beneficiary,” said the PD. “MGNREGS guidelines states that Rs 2 lakh can be spent on land development for each beneficiary, but there is no written instruction from the Government in this regard. We cannot go beyond the limit of 150 days of work although it is a necessity in a migrant prone district like Nuapada,” the PD stated.

The district had a labour budget of Rs 2, 64, 492 crore for the current financial year, but the achievement so far indicates that the district needs more.Considering this, the State Government had proposed a revised budget of Rs  40.21 crore for the year, which has been approved by the Centre.