NREGS staff unpaid for three months, demand immediate salaries and job protection

Harish Rao demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy immediately release pending salaries to all MGNREGS APOs and sanitation workers

Karimnagar: Employees working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are grappling with financial distress as they have not received their salaries for the last three months.

Although salaries for January, February and March were cleared in April, payments for the following three months remain pending. Staff say the delay is making it difficult to pay room rent, school fees and manage household expenses.

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The worsening financial burden coupled with work pressures has reportedly taken a toll, with Assistant Project Officer (APO) K Srinivas, who was working in Devaruppala mandal, recently succumbing to a heart attack.

Reacting to the incident, former Minister and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao blamed the Congress government for the delay and held it responsible for Srinivas’s death.

He demanded that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy immediately release pending salaries to all MGNREGS APOs and sanitation workers.

Launched by the UPA government in 2005 to prevent rural migration by providing work in native villages, MGNREGS ensures 100 days of employment per household each year. To implement the scheme at the grassroots level, the government appointed field assistants, technical assistants, computer
operators, assistant project officers and engineering consultants.

Field assistants receive a monthly salary of Rs.11,900 excluding TA and DA (Rs.400 to Rs.500), while technical assistants draw Rs.32,000 to Rs.35,000. APOs earn around Rs.40,000 per month.

Field assistants and technical staff, who are expected to tour extensively to implement the scheme, said they now struggle to afford even basic fuel for field visits.

Officials have been citing the development of a new green channel salary payment application as the reason for the delay.

However, staff questioned the explanation, asking whether it takes six months to develop such an application.

They urged both the Centre and the State government to clear pending payments without further delay and ensure salaries are paid on time. Despite repeated appeals for job security on par with IKP staff, the government has not responded, field assistants said, reiterating their demands for job protection.