Home » National » Tn Cm Urges Centre To Release ₹2696 Crore Accumulated Wage Liability For Mgnregs Workers

TN CM urges Centre to release ₹2,696 crore accumulated wage liability for MGNREGS workers

The money, the chief minister said, was the wage liability for the workers under MGNREGS that had accumulated till 20 October.

ByPTI

Published Oct 27, 2023 | 8:52 PM ⚊UpdatedOct 27, 2023 | 8:52 PM

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin Sri Lanka fishermen

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. (X)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday, 27 October, sought Union Minister Giriraj Singh’s intervention for the immediate release of ₹2,696.77 crore for the workers in the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The money, the chief minister said, was the wage liability for the workers under MGNREGS that had accumulated till 20 October.

Further, he demanded additional funds to be released for the unskilled workers regularly.

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‘Look forward to personal intervention’

“I look forward to your personal intervention in this regard,” the chief minister said in a letter addressed to the Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, a copy of which was made available to the media.

During the 2023-24 financial year, ₹4,903.25 crore was released by the Government of India for unskilled wages for the workers up to 19 July, this year. Subsequently, on 25 September, about ₹1,755.43 crore was sanctioned towards the payment of unskilled wages, he explained.

However, out of the sanctioned amount, only ₹418.23 crore seemed to have been released partially, leaving a balance of ₹1,337.20 crore yet to be credited into the accounts of workers. Further, a liability of ₹1,359.57 crore for the wages for the subsequent weeks also was not released.

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Liability of ₹2,696.77 crore

“Thus, as of 20 October, the wage liability for the workers of Tamil Nadu has accumulated to ₹2,696.77 crore,” Stalin said in the letter.

During his review of government schemes and programmes in Kattankulathur Panchayat Union in Chengalpattu District on 17 October, there were several pleas for the release of unpaid wages for MGNREGS workers immediately in view of the ensuing festive season. He received similar requests from the people in the Tiruvannamalai district too.

Tamil Nadu has always been a top-performing state in implementing the MGNREGS under various parameters and about 92.86 lakh households across the state have been issued with job cards. Of them, nearly 91.52 lakh workers pertaining to 76.15 lakh households were actively participating in the MGNREGS works regularly, he said.

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