Dhumal attacks Himachal Pradesh government on poor MNREGA implementation

SHIMLA: Leader of opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal as accused state government of failing to implement MNREGA effectively in Himachal Pradesh. He said that state government has not only failed to achieve the given target but also failed to increase the wages of workers besides to make their payment.
In a statement, Dhumal claimed that 75% job card holders were not provided 100 days employment.“Not paying the wages in time too would be called as negligence of state government,” he added. He said that failing to get Central Assistance in time only shows the negligence of officials whose sole reason is ineffective and inefficient government.
He said that under MNREGA Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government has made provision of Rs 34, 900 crore which is Rs 900 more than previous UPA regime. He said that on the demand of states additional provision of Rs 5000 crore was assured by Centre to increase the wages and other developmental works.
“But state government did not send any proposal to centre to increase the wages of workers,” he added. He said that due to lackadaisical attitude of state government workers under MNREGA are deprived of increased wages. He said currently Haryana provides daily wage of Rs 251, Punjab Rs 210, Chandigarh, 239 while Himachal Pradesh is paying just Rs 162. He demanded that state government should increase the daily wages to Rs 200.
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma has denounced the statement of Dhumal appearing. He said that statement was factually incorrect and politically motivated. He said that allegation was an attempt by Dhumal to defend the curtail in Central Assistance under MNGRGA. He said that statement was politically motivated and a futile attempt to misguide people of state.
Sharma said that Dhumal was deliberately hiding the 42 percent slash made in the MNREGA budget by the Union Government during the year 2014-15. He said that out of total sanctioned budget under labour component out of Rs 761.71 crore, only Rs 355.43 crore were received by the state government.
He said that state government has forcefully taking up the issue at various level but Union Government has rejected its plea stating that sanctioned labour budget was far more than budget for the year 2014-15 and 2015-16.