Jun 27 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
CRACKDOWN OVER MGNREGA - States to Pay Compensation for Wage Delay by July 31
YOGIMA SETH SHARMA
|
NEW DELHI
|
25% of payments amounting to `. 2,700 cr are delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days
Centre has come down heavily on states asking them to pay the entire compensation to workers arising out of delay in wages by July 31 under the employment guarantee scheme, in the absence of which states will not be allowed to apply for further funds under the scheme from the Centre.At present, 25% of the payments amounting to Rs 2,700 crore are delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days. A fraction of payments, about Rs 125 crore, have been delayed for over 90 days.
Ministry of Rural Development had introduced the penal system of monetary compensation for delay in wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in January this year and till date the cumulative compensation stands at Rs 90.6 crore.
` Of this, compensation for delay in wages in 2013-14 is Rs 79.7 crore while it Rs 10.9 crore in the first quarter of the is ` current financial year.
Under the compensation clause, government penalises states at the rate of 0.05% of the wages delayed per day .
States, in turn, can recover this from the functionaries or agencies involved in payment of wages.
“This kind of tough stand was needed as barring two states, no state has taken our instructions seriously as a result of which the problem of delay in wages continued despite the compensation clause being put in place,“ a senior government official told ET.
In a letter written to special chief secretaries of all states recently, the ministry of rural development has said that barring Maharashtra and Chattisgarh, in no other state the programme officers have been examining the delayed cases, which reflects poorly on the monitoring of the scheme.
Conveying the Centre's message of 'zero tolerance' for delays, the ministry has also directed states to tighten the system of wage payments without any further loss of time.
The states with highest compensation in the current fiscal include Madhya Pradesh (. `2.3 crore), Tamil Nadu (.
` 2.03 crore), Chattisgarh (. `1.1 crore), Maharashtra (. ` 0.98 crore)and Andhra Pradesh (. `0.97 crore).
MGNREGA promises 100 days of work each year to every rural household. The Act stipulates that wage payments have to be made within 15 days to the beneficiary.
However, complaints of delayed wage payments have been rampant since the scheme was implemented in February 2006.
Centre has allocated ` . 34,000 crore for 2014-15 to MGNREGA, the flagship employment guarantee scheme.
Ministry of Rural Development had introduced the penal system of monetary compensation for delay in wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in January this year and till date the cumulative compensation stands at Rs 90.6 crore.
` Of this, compensation for delay in wages in 2013-14 is Rs 79.7 crore while it Rs 10.9 crore in the first quarter of the is ` current financial year.
Under the compensation clause, government penalises states at the rate of 0.05% of the wages delayed per day .
States, in turn, can recover this from the functionaries or agencies involved in payment of wages.
“This kind of tough stand was needed as barring two states, no state has taken our instructions seriously as a result of which the problem of delay in wages continued despite the compensation clause being put in place,“ a senior government official told ET.
In a letter written to special chief secretaries of all states recently, the ministry of rural development has said that barring Maharashtra and Chattisgarh, in no other state the programme officers have been examining the delayed cases, which reflects poorly on the monitoring of the scheme.
Conveying the Centre's message of 'zero tolerance' for delays, the ministry has also directed states to tighten the system of wage payments without any further loss of time.
The states with highest compensation in the current fiscal include Madhya Pradesh (. `2.3 crore), Tamil Nadu (.
` 2.03 crore), Chattisgarh (. `1.1 crore), Maharashtra (. ` 0.98 crore)and Andhra Pradesh (. `0.97 crore).
MGNREGA promises 100 days of work each year to every rural household. The Act stipulates that wage payments have to be made within 15 days to the beneficiary.
However, complaints of delayed wage payments have been rampant since the scheme was implemented in February 2006.
Centre has allocated ` . 34,000 crore for 2014-15 to MGNREGA, the flagship employment guarantee scheme.
