Villagers get unemployment allowance after 2-year ordeal

This is just the second time that unemployment allowance has been given in Uttar Pradesh – which tops the list of states that have failed to give the allowance to job card holders who have not got minimum 100 days of work.

In 2009,826 families from Mishrikh block in Sitapur were given the allowance after the block office failed to give them work demanded in 2007.

According to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,if the state fails to give a job within 15 days of the demand,it has to pay unemployment allowance,which should not be less than the wages for 15 mandays,although the maximum limit has to be decided by the state.

The 106 villagers who got the unemployment allowance this time hail from Amini and Admapur villages in Sewapuri block. Ajay Patel of Mazdoor Manch,a collective of MGNREGS workers in Varanasi,said they had to resort to a hunger strike to get the allowance.

“The workers,through different workers’ groups or mazdoor manchs,demanded work in their block offices in October 2009. There were 59 job card holders in Amini and 41 in Admapur. But the block office failed to give them work even after a month. They approached the block development officer and demanded unemployment allowance,but there was no redressal. We approached the district magistrate and the state NREGS office. In April 2010,the state government ordered that all 109 job card holders be given unemployment allowance but the matter was kept pending at the block office,” Patel said.

In February 2011,the workers held a dharna outside the DM’s office. Some even went on a hunger strike.

“The matter finally reached the rural development commissioner’s office,which ordered that the allowance be given at the earliest.”

Officials said that unemployment allowance has to be paid from the state exchequer and the onus falls on block-level officials. Commissioner NREGS Sanjeev Kumar said,“The block officials will be held responsible for not giving work.’’