The mechanism in respect of the much hyped socio-economic welfare scheme of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) whereby providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a calendar year to every rural household is mandatory , is such that no liabilities should be kept unclear(ed), least allowed to mount. In other words, payments have to be made to the rural labour force in a time bound period but not exceeding 15 days from the date of closure of muster roll and the job card holder’s bank account credited directly.
The scheme also envisages physical verification of works completed under the flagship scheme so that the ancillary payments related to the works component are made in time. However, it is beyond comprehension as to why Block Development Officer in Poonch is continuously disregarding the directives of the higher authorities to complete the required formalities in this regard so that payments could be “released” not only to the wage labourers but to masons and suppliers of the material required for various works completed. Those whose payments are held up have been facing troubles in not being heard compelling them to run from pillar to post. The committees constituted for the purpose too have not submitted the report . It may be noted that an amount of Rs.3.50 crore is pending for payments and hundreds of workers’ wages are stalled.
Under these circumstances , the UT Government must take the serious view of the matter and arrange to identify the humps and impediments in not addressing the issue which not only is long pending but also sensitive in nature being related to a scheme like MGNREGA.
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