MGNREGA workers to launch agitation over unpaid wages
Thursday, 04/02/2016
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/
Muktsar : As many as 66,263 MGNREGA job cardholders in Muktsar district have decided to hold a protest outside the Block Development and Panchayat Office on February 16.
They have been awaiting wages amounting Rs 7.69 crore since August last year.
Tarsem Singh, a farm labourer, said, “The government has been denying our wages. We have protested in the past, but to no avail. Now, we will intensify our agitation.”
As per rules, wages have to be given to MGNREGA workers within 15 days of the work, he said.
Sources said of the four blocks in the district, the situation was worse in the Muktsar block, where a majority of job cardholders had been unpaid for the past eight months.
In Muktsar district, 21,025 MGNREGA job cardholders are registered in the Muktsar block; 16,239 in the Gidderbaha block; 14,777 in the Lambi block and 14,222 in the Malout block.
Kulwant Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Muktsar, said, “We have generated Rs 31 crore in the current financial year and of which Rs 24 crore have been paid to the cardholders. We will release their dues as soon as we get more funds from the department concerned. Recently, we disbursed Rs 50 lakh among the workers.”
