In order to ensure timely payment of wages to labourers working under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to impose fine on officials concerned for the delay in payments.
“The government has now decided to impose a fine of 0.05 per cent or Re 0.05 paise per rupee per day on officials concerned if payment of wages are delayed by more than 15 days and the fine would be paid to the labourers concerned,” said state government spokesperson and Power Minister Shrikant Sharma after a cabinet meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday.
After this decision, a MGNREGA labourer, who is paid Rs 182 per day and gets work for at least 100 days in a year, would get an additional Rs 9 per day if the wages are delayed by more than 15 days.
The Yogi Adityanath cabinet also said that the fine would be deducted from the salary of the officer concerned.
Besides, district magistrates have been asked to monitor the payment of labourers’ wages so that they are not delayed.
In another decision, the UP government decided to increase the areas of two municipal corporations, five municipalities and constitute nine new nagar panchayats.
The areas of Shahjahanpur and Agra municipal corporations along with municipalities of Hathras, Maharajganj, Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar), Medhawal (Sant Kabir Nagar) and Anandnagar (Maharajganj) have been increased.
The new nagar panchayats are Lambhua (Sultanpur), Madrauk (Aligarh), Tumkhiraj (Kushinagar), Jahanganj ( Azamgarh), Gaurabazar (Jaunpur), Rajpur (Kanpur Dehat), Paniyara (Maharajganj), Parthwal (Maharajganj) and Mohanlalganj in Lucknow.
In another decision, the government approved four firms for preparing detailed project report (DPR) for piped drinking water supply in nine districts of Bundelkhand and Vindhyachal divisions.
“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the government was ready to go for piped drinking water across the state, particularly in arsenic and fluoride-affected areas. Though, the government in principle has decided to impose user fee for drinking water, still Rs 86,000 crores would be required for the project,” the spokesperson said.
In the first phase, the project would be launched in seven districts of Bundelkhand (Banda, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Lalitpur and Mahoba) and two of Vindhyachal region (Sonbhadra and Mirzapur). The construction companies would be given authority for 10 years to manage the system.
The cabinet also approved the demolition of 17 old buildings of Etah district hospital and 20 buildings of Hardoi district hospital for construction of new medical colleges.
In Etah, the government would collect a sum of Rs 96.55 lakh through scrap and in Hardoi, Rs 1.65 crore .
Court building: The government also approved an additional Rs 3.65 crore for the construction of a new court building in Gorakhpur.
Besides, the government approved Rs 3.72 crore for the construction of a central cooling system in the 400-bed hostel at Legal Training Institute in Lucknow.
The UP government also approved amendment t0 service rule of employment officers in Labour department.