Some 2,376 workers in Fatehpura taluka of Dahod, who toiled hard in the scorching heat under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), had to wait a full year just to be paid their wages.

This is when Section 7.1.5 of the NREGA regulation states that it is essential to ensure that wages are paid on time.

“Workers are entitled for payment on a weekly basis, and in any case within a fortnight of the date on which the work was done (NREGA, Section 3(3)). In the event of any delay in payments of wages, they are entitled to compensation as per the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (NREGA, Schedule II, Section 30). Compensation costs shall be borne by the state government.”

But in this case, the amount was paid only after the gram panchayats of Dadhela, Jagola, Ghughas, Vangad and Karmel villages in Dahod made numerous representations to the district administration regarding non-payment of the wages.

The amount was due for the works done on the construction/rejuvenation of community wells in these villages.

Confirming this, Chetan Paragi, sarpanch of Ghughas gram panchayat, said: “Workers take loans from local moneylenders at rates as high as 100 per cent in the hope of NREGS wages. If the officials delay the payments by one year and that too without any interest, how will we repay our loans?”

Lamenting the lacunae in the system, Ashwini Pratap, member of the NREGS Workers Union, Gujarat, which is a registered trade union, said: “The Taluka Development Officers and secretaries of the gram panchayats are not maintaining proper muster rolls, which raises doubts of corruption. Sometimes, funds are not transferred from the district to the taluka level in time. Even bank accounts to transfer the wages are not opened timely.”

... contd.