Officials fined for late payment of MGNREGS wages in Ganjam

Fine has been imposed on the officers concerned in Buguda and Kabisurya Nagara blocks in Ganjam district for allegedly delaying wage payment to the beneficiaries under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
District Collector Prem Chand Chaudhary has ordered collection of around Rs 1.56 lakh from the Gram Rojagara Sevak (GRS), junior engineers and gram panchayat technical assistancts (GPTA) of the panchayats concerened as they were responsibile for delay in payment of wages to beneficiaries under MGNREGS, officials said today.
According to provisions of MGNREGA, if wages are delayed beyond 15 days, compensation at 0.05 per cent of wage per day of delay will be paid and the same will be deducted from the salary of the responsible personnel, they said.

After collecting the fine, the money will be deposited with the government's employment guarantee fund. The same amount will be paid as compensation for the delay in payment to the beneficiaries with government sanctioned, said a senior officer of the district rural development agency (DRDA), who deals with the MGNREGS.
The district administration had conducted an inquiry to find out the reasons for delay in payments of the wages under the scheme after the beneficiaries of six and seven panchayats of Buguda and Kabisurya Nagar blocks complained to the collector. The delay in payment varied from one week to 20 days in different panchayats and GRS, JE and GPTA were found responsible for this, they said.

The number of beneficiaries who got wages under the scheme late was 650 in Buguda and 720 in Kabisurya Nagar blocks.