Release Rs 2,696 cr accumulated wage liability for MGNREGS workers, urges Tamil Nadu CM Stalin

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday sought Union Minister Giriraj Singh's intervention for the immediate release of Rs 2,696.77 crore for the workers in the state under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).

The money, the chief minister said, was the wage liability for the workers under MGNREGS that had accumulated till October 20.

Further, he demanded additional funds to be released for the unskilled workers regularly.

"I look forward to your personal intervention in this regard," the chief minister said in a letter addressed to the Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, a copy of which was made available to the media here.

During the 2023-24 financial year, Rs 4,903.25 crore was released by the Government of India for unskilled wages for the workers up to July 19, this year. Subsequently, on September 25, about Rs 1,755.43 crore was sanctioned towards the payment of unskilled wages, he explained.

However, out of the sanctioned amount, only Rs 418.23 crore seemed to have been released partially, leaving a balance of Rs 1,337.20 crore yet to be credited into the accounts of workers. Further, a liability of Rs 1,359.57 crore for the wages for the subsequent weeks also was not released.

"Thus, as on October 20, the wage liability for the workers of Tamil Nadu has accumulated to Rs.2,696.77 crore," Stalin said in the letter.

During his review of government schemes and programmes in Kattankulathur Panchayat Union in Chengalpattu District on October 17, there were several pleas for the release of unpaid wages for MGNREGS workers immediately in view of the ensuing festive season. He received similar requests from the people in Tiruvannamalai district too.

Tamil Nadu has always been a top performing state in implementing the MGNREGS under various parameters and about 92.86 lakh households across the state have been issued with job cards. Of them, nearly 91.52 lakh workers pertaining to 76.15 lakh households were actively participating in the MGNREGS works regularly, he said.