Plea in Calcutta High Court seeks payment of pending wages under MGNREGA – The Hindu

A civil rights group has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the Calcutta High Court demanding payment of pending wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to lakhs of workers in West Bengal.

“The tension between the State and Centre over the arrears of wages for 100 days of work is not unknown to anyone. Since December last year, both the governments have deprived the workers of their fair wages,” a statement by the PBKMS said. 

Funds are due to lakhs of MGNREGA workers since December 2021 and the 100-day work scheme has also suffered because of non-payment of wages. The non-payment of wages has resulted in debt and distress in rural areas, particularly in the districts of Purulia and South 24 Parganas. 

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also highlighted non-payment of wages under the MGNREGA and on Tuesday said if the Centre could not pay dues to the State, it should stop collecting Goods and Services Tax (GST). The Centre has stopped issuing funds on the allegations of large-scale corruption in the implementation of the MGNREGA.

 Representatives of the PBKMS said they had contacted officials of the State, Central MGNREGA departments and the Union Ministry of Rural Development over the past few days but did not get any clear answer regarding the arrears. The association still did not see any urgency from the two governments to settle the arrears.

 The PBKMS said it demanded details of exchange of information and correspondence between the State government and the Centre regarding the 100 days of work from 2019 and the report of the Central government team that recently visited West Bengal for investigation should be made public.  It also called for the Central government to “immediately pay the arrears of ₹2,600 crore to the MGNREGA workers and pay compensation of 0.05% on the daily wages as per Section 29 of the NREG Act of 2005”.

“The State government should take strict action against corrupt persons and recover public money wherever corruption is proved as well as create a fund of at least ₹3,500 crore so that wages can be paid from that fund if there is delay in releasing MGNREGA wages,” the statement said.