(a) whether payment of wages toworkers under the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA) in Andaman and NicobarIslands is pending for the past manymonths;
(b) if so, the details thereof and thereasons therefor;
and
(c) the steps taken by the Governmentin this regard?
MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI BIRENDER SINGH)
(a)&(b): As per program Management Information System (MIS), the payment due towards unskilled wages to workers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is Rs.45.01 lakh while the unspent balance available with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is Rs.519.69 lakhas on 27th July, 2015.As such, there are adequate funds for programme implementation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.Cases of delay in payment of wages in Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been reported in the Ministry due to following reasons:-
• Internet connectivity for maintaining the programme database (MGNREGA-soft)
• Implementation issues like delay in measurement, inadequate staff, poor spread of banking infrastructure, etc.
(c): To reduce the delay in payment of wages under MGNREGA, a system of payment of compensation for such delays was brought in Para 29 of Schedule II of the Act. The States/UTs have been advised to ensure compliance with this provision. The following steps are taken to check the delays in wage payment:
i. State Government has to notify the ‘Rules’ and implement the system of compensation for delay in wage payment.
ii. State Government has to review and discuss fortnightly with the Programme Officers to decide cases of delayed compensation.
iii. Liability of Engineers/Junior Engineers, while calculating delay compensation has to be defined in MIS.
iv. The compensation amount for delay in wage payment will be calculated from the date of notification of Rules.
*****