New Delhi, Aug 12 : A standing committee in its report on the MGNREG Act observed that the bureaucratic tangle that surrounds the reasons that cause delays in payments must be surgically eliminated. The panel of the Parliamentary committee on Rural Development observed that the prompt payment of wages as guaranteed by the MGNREG Act assumes paramount importance that acts as an additional attraction to the poor and marginalized segments of the society.
“On this basis the Committee was able to take a painfully firm hold of the urgent issue of excessive delays in the installment of wages to beneficiaries of MGNREGA and advised DoRD to consider all possible measures to eliminate wage obligations in the amount of the amount of 2,76,378.22 lakh as of 05.11.2021,” said the report, which was recently introduced in the Parliament.
“Responding to the Committee, DoRD have only made a statement about the distribution of funds as a continual process, along with the provisions in the current fashion.It was also reported that a sum of approximately 73,023.05 crore was released to States/UTs to pay for the wages under MGNREGA.
“The Committee are not oblivious to the ‘hue and cries for the release of wages that are pending across the country for a myriad of reasons.
In this context the Committee finds the answer to be unsatisfactory since no specific action has been taken in relation to the complete elimination of the pending in wage payments,” it said.
The panel in its report said that the release of the amount provided by the DoRD could be is a one step in the right direction, however the “need of the hour is to make sure that the promise of the payment of wages in 15 days as stipulated in the MGNREG Act should be complied with in spirit and letter and that not a single cent is left unpaid to the poor beneficiaries.
“The bureaucratic smog that surrounds the causes of delay needs to be surgically removed,” it said.
The Committee strongly endorses their suggestion to take more efficient and result-oriented steps to get away the dreadful condition of the delay in the payments of wages to beneficiaries of MGNREGA the report said.
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