Ranchi: : Differences have cropped up between the Centre and the Jharkhand Government over a notification issued by the former on the duration of work for the unskilled labourers engaged by the latter under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

On January 14, the Union Ministry of Rural Development deemed it fit to increase the working hours of the labourers from seven to nine hours without hiking their schedule of rate (SoR) connected with their daily wage.

“The working days of an adult worker shall be so arranged that inclusive of (three hours of) intervals of rest, if any, it shall not be spread over more than 12 hours (which effectively turns out to be nine hours) on any day,” reads the Ministry’s notification.

Subsequently, Joint Secretary in the Rural Development Ministry, Amita Sharma, shot off a letter to concerned state governments on February 26 saying that the amendment was necessary in view of reviews of the NREG scheme being implemented in all districts with effect from April 1. However, the Jharkhand Government opposed the Central notification. “NREG Act cannot be amended with a gazette notification brought by the Union,” said a senior IAS officer. “The increase in duration of the working hours of NREG workers was not acceptable to us as it was illegal,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jharkhand Government secretary Santosh Satpathy, in his capacity as a member of the NREGS’s Central Council, wrote a letter to the Centre making it clear that the amendment was not in the interest of Jharkhand where nearly 22 out of 24 districts were infested with Naxalites and other extremists. “The latest amendment to NREG Act would render its implementation an extremely difficult proposition. ...It would be inhuman to subject labourers to nine hours of earth work especially in the hot summer months. It would also ensure an increase in resentment against the state and would provide a definite fillip to the already blooming Left wing extremism,” states Satpathy’s letter.