Villagers not given wages as per MGNREGS in Chandel Dist
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Gyanand Naorem

Kakching, October 31 2015 : Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranteed Scheme (MGNREGS), a flagship programme of the Government provides employment avenues to jobless villagers and improved the financial condition of families below poverty line.

However, there have been complaints galore on non-payment of wages for the 100 days guaranteed employment.

Apart from providing employment to the unemployed villagers, construction of road-side drains, improvement of inter village roads, plantation of tree, etc.

were taken up for the community in the villages under MGNREGS.

Speaking to this Correspondent, a woman villager and job card holder from a remote village in Chandel District said that most of her co-villagers are living below the poverty line and engaged in jhum cultivation for their livelihood.

As there were no other avenues in the village, the villagers were jobless throughout the year except for a few months of seasonal agricultural activities, said the villagers.

However, after the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranteed Scheme (MGNREGS), the villagers got employment for at least 100 days under the scheme.

This made our financial conditions improve, she said.

Another job card holder also said that prior to launching of the MGNREGS, the primary occupations of the villagers were farming, hunting and fishing besides felling of woods and making charcoal to supplement the meager income generated from jhum cultivation.

"However, after launching the scheme, we are able to get employment during the off seasons of agricultural activities under the scheme," said the villager.

However, since the past two years, the villagers were not given 100 days employment as guaranteed under the Scheme.

Out of the 100 days guaranteed employment, they have provided only 30-40 days of employment as the authority failed to release wages for the job card holders, lamented the villager.

When inquired about the payment of wages, the villager said that they received the wage amount from the Village Chief who disbursed it after withdrawing the total amount for all the job card holders of the village.

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