CM urges Central govt. to disburse MGNREGS dues
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday wrote to the Union government requesting it to disburse the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) dues towards wages, amounting to ₹1,678.83 crore, up to January 5, 2024.
In his letter to Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Giriraj Singh, the Chief Minister sought his personal intervention in this regard.
Till March 6 this year, Tamil Nadu generated 40.51 crore persondays as against the labour budget of 37 crore persondays by providing employment to 79.28 lakh workers from 68.68 lakh households, he said.
During 202324, a total of ₹8,734.32 crore was sanctioned to Tamil Nadu towards wages up to November 6 this year. However, only ₹7,712.03 crore had been disbursed to the workers, as a result of which a wage liability of ₹1,022.29 crore for November 2023 and December 2023 was pending as on January 5 this year, Mr. Stalin said.
As the wages for unskilled workers had not been disbursed since the last week of November 2023, the liability had risen to ₹1,678.83 crore (to
Till March 6 this year, Tamil Nadu generated 40.51 crore persondays as against the labour budget of 37 crore
be disbursed to 24.21 lakh households), whose members worked under MGNREGS from December 2023 to February 2024, he said.
The MGNREGS was one of the key schemes for providing employment to all registered households in rural areas, and as far as Tamil Nadu was concerned, it was implemented inclusively as 86% of the workers were women while 29% belonged to the SC/ST communities, he said.
‘Topperforming State’
“It is to be noted that Tamil Nadu has been at the forefront at the national level in providing employment to differentlyabled people. Further, Tamil Nadu has always been a topperforming State since the inception of the scheme,” he said.
So far, the Union government has approved 37 crore persondays in three spells.
Recalling his communications to the Ministry on this issue and the subsequent release of ₹1,388.91 crore, the Chief Minister extended his gratitude for the same.