Job card holders under Gasuapara C&RD Block in South Garo Hills are grappling with discontent as wages under the MGNREGA have not been paid to them.
A public meeting on the issue was held on November 1 to discuss the issue.
The job card holders as well as the VEC president and secretary also wrote a letter to State Rural Employment Society Mission Director Sibhi Chakravarthy Sadhu on the delay of payment of wages.
“We have been working diligently on various projects to improve the rural infrastructure and uplift the local community. However, the delay in receiving our rightful wages has caused us financial hardship and distress,” they said in the letter.
Stating that they have completed all our assigned tasks within the stipulated time frame and have duly submitted all necessary documentation to support their works, the workers said they were informed that the wages are left unpaid due to inability to submit death certificates to those who couldn’t link Aadhaar with the bank account.
“We have linked Aadhar as directed by the government and also we have submitted death certificates for those deceased individuals who could not link their Aadhar Card. Despite this, we have not received our 70+ days wage payment for the past 14 months,” the workers added.
Urging Sadhu to investigate the reasons for the delay in wage payments and take immediate action to release the pending wages, the workers said that beneficiaries deserve compensation allowance for the delay, which is a norm set under MGNREGA.
Further, the workers aid steps should also be taken to ensure that such delays should not occur in the future and that all workers are paid promptly for their hard work.
