No action on delay in MGNREGS wages: Activists

Social activists on Friday said the government had not taken any action even three months after the submission of an independent report that showed ontime payment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the first two quarters of 2017-18 was just 32 per cent.

In August this year, independent researchers, who prepared the report using Rural Development Ministry's data, said the government was "deliberately" masking its own delay and therefore contributing to the delay in payment of wages and non-payment of delay compensation.

Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan's Nikhil Dey, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan were among the activists, who on Friday said the situation was only getting worse due to the inaction.

As per a release, the report found out the payments made under MGNREGS on time was only 32 per cent, which was "in sharp contrast to the incomplete and incorrect claim" by the ministry that 85 per cent payments were made in time.

They also cited Finance Ministry's report in August this year that said "It was found that the delay in payment to states was mainly due to infrastructural bottlenecks, availability of funds and lack of administrative compliance."

--IANS

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