Around 57 per cent workers in Maharashtra didn’t get MNREGA wages on time

Officials attribute delay to non-availability of funds from the Centre

Maharashtra is lagging behind several states when it comes to paying wages to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme workers this fiscal, according to the latest statistics published by the MGNREGA website. Around 57 per cent unskilled labourers in Maharashtra were not paid their wages within the stipulated period of 15 days during 2016-17, the website states.

Officials attribute this to the delay in receiving funds from the Centre. “The delay in payments was due to delay in funds from the Centre for various components. Payments of skilled labourers have to be made immediately. Funds for purchasing materials, too, was delayed this year. Payment towards skilled component and purchase of materials led to the delay in payment of the unskilled workers,” said Varsha Gaurkar, the assistant commissioner of MGNREGA Maharashtra.

According to the scheme, payments must be made within 15 days of a particular work being completed.

Maharashtra has managed to pay the wages of only 43.53 per cent of the beneficiaries within the stipulated time.

In the 2015-16 fiscal, the state had fared worse with just 35.13 per cent of the workers getting paid.

In 2016-17, 61.06 lakh workers’ payment have been delayed and of these labourers, 2.76 lakh have not been paid for more than 90 days.

States like Tamil Nadu (9.42 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (22.23 per cent), West Bengal (22.82 per cent) and Bihar (41.1 per cent) have fared worse in paying the workers’ dues within the stipulated time.

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On the other hand, Andhra Pradesh,Telangana, Kerala, Manipur, Jharkhand and Rajasthan have taken the top spots when it comes to paying the workers, figures on the MNREGA portal show.

Goa, which was among the states where not a single unskilled worker’s due was paid on time in 2015-16, has now managed to pay 60.16 per cent labourers within the stipulated time.

Activists say they were not surprised with Maharashtra’s poor record.

Narayan Bhoir, an activist from Amravati, said: “The situation has improved this year compared to the last two years with an alarming rise in the number of farmer suicides due to debts. This attitude of the Union rural development department of delaying the funds and lack of accountability among the state officials are the major factors in delayed payments. This in turn affects the labourers who are banking on the MGNREGA payments.”

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Another activist from Nandurbar, Manoj Bhamre, said the labourers in remote tribal districts face a different problem. “These workers have travel 15-20 km to access their bank accounts. They feel cheated and exploited when they find that their payment has not been credited to their accounts,” he said.

Rural development minister Pankaja Munde Palwe remained unavailable for comment.

Gaurkar said: “We are trying to address the issue. Apart from the delay in release of funds, there are other issues as well, like as non-filling of muster rolls, etc. which lead to delay in payment of wages. We will address the issue soon.”

Maharashtra offers Rs 192 per day as wage under the scheme.

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The wage has been increased to Rs 201 a day and the hiked wages would be paid from April 1.

The MGNREGA 2005 provides at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

The Centre has allocated Rs 48,000 crore for the scheme in 2017-18, which is the highest ever.

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