Bank account faulty, MGNREGA wages held up

JAIPUR: Many villagers in Bakanpura of Kishanganj tehsil in Baran district complained that they had not received wages for work done under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in January and February this year. While some had worked for over a month, unpaid, some had spent lesser days. Workers under MGNREGA are supposed to be paid every fortnight.Sitaram, a villager in the district, said he had not been paid for work done in January. Other villagers too complained that delayed payment was putting them through hard times.
Baran is one of 19 districts declared drought-affected in the state. On June 17, the Centre declared that work under the MGNREGA in these districts would be extended from 100 days to 150, to mitigate the troubles of villagers. However, if payments are long delayed, the very efficacy of this programme to offer succor to villagers suffering from adverse weather conditions and on the brink of destitution would be severely compromised.
Development officer Rahul Kumar said that all payments up to May had indeed been cleared. “However, the bank accounts of several labourers were faulty, and so the fund transfers have not happened,” he said.
During the recent Jawab Do dharna in the state capital, there were discussions around how the payment of MGNREGA wages through banks had become an additional bother for villagers. They were not aware of the size of the funds transferred, and often found that their wages had been arbitrarily cut. While payments were distributed at the work site, workers could protest such arbitrary cuts and seek justice. Now, however, they are left with little to do but to accept the heavily eroded wages that are deposited into their bank accounts. In the case of villagers in Baran, however, it looks like even those payments will take time coming.