A delegation of Jharkhand Government made a courtesy call on the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Rural Development Minister of Government of India, Shivraj Singh Chouhan at Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi on April 29. In the meeting, many important topics related to the implementation of centrally sponsored schemes operating in the state of Jharkhand were discussed. The state government put forth concrete demands especially on the issues of pending payments, resource allocation and policy amendments related to MGNREGA and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural).
On behalf of the state government, the Minister was requested that the amount of Rs 747 crore pending with the Central Government in the material item under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) should be released in the SNA (State Nodal Account) of the state as soon as possible. It was also requested that the payment process of the works for which FTO (Fund Transfer Order) of bills have already been uploaded on MNREGA portal should be expedited.
In order to ensure timely payment of wages to lakhs of workers of the state, the Central Government was requested to immediately provide the pending amount of ₹150 crore in the wages head of MGNREGA.
The delegation informed that the salary and operational expenses of more than 5400 workers working under MGNREGA administrative head in the state are pending for three months. Due to this, the scheme operation is getting affected. There was a demand to release the amount of administrative head soon.
The Government of India had earlier approved the training of 25,000 additional masons to the state of Jharkhand, but the amount related to this has not been received by the state yet. The state government demanded immediate release of funds to start the training process.
The MGNREGA wage rate of Jharkhand is currently ₹255 per day, which is less than other states. The state government urged that it be increased to a minimum of ₹405 per day, so that workers can get fair remuneration and the effectiveness of the scheme remains.
In the plateau and hard soil terrain of Jharkhand, tasks like digging wells are extremely difficult. The current SDR rates are not in accordance with this workload. The state government demanded permission to revise the SDR rates on the lines of other plateau states.
Many FTOs related to material and labour are pending for more than a year, causing difficulties to workers and suppliers. The pending payment includes ₹7.06 crore in the wage item and ₹43 lakh in the material item.
The honorarium of ₹2.86 crore of workers working in the Community Forest Programme (CFP) of MNREGA is pending for the last three months. It was demanded that this amount be released as soon as possible.
In the Abua Housing Scheme of the Jharkhand government, an amount of ₹2 lakh is sanctioned per beneficiary, whereas in the centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), this amount is only ₹1.20 lakh. The state proposed that the central scheme should also be made in line with Abua Housing and the amount per unit should be increased to ₹2 lakh, so that rural families can get strong, safe and dignified housing.
The Jharkhand government requested the central government for a quick decision and financial assistance on all points, so that the living conditions of the poor, workers and rural citizens in the state can be improved and effective operation of the schemes can be ensured.