Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the wage rate under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to `200 for Odisha in view of the drought situation.
In a letter, Patnaik too informed that `200 is the minimum wage for unskilled labourers in the State. He too urged Modi to ensure adequate fund flow under the MGNREGS so that sufferings of drought-hit farmers can be reduced.
Besides, the Chief Minister stated that the State government has recently decided to provide an additional 50 days of work in drought-affected blocks over and above 150 days of work provided by the Union Government under MGNREGS. Besides, his Government has also decided to provide 30 percent extra wages as drought allowance to the MGNREGS workers over and above the wage of `174 fixed by the Centre. Hence, the wage to be paid to a worker under the MGNREGS would be increased to `226. As per preliminary report, drought like situation is prevailing in 139 blocks out of 314 blocks of the State, mentioned the letter.