Though affected by calamities, no additional man-days to Telangana

Hyderabad: The Central government’s discrimination against Telangana is a glaring issue even in permitting additional days of work for drought and natural calamity-affected States under MGNREGS in the last five years.

Telangana recorded extremely heavy rainfall in 2020 and 2021, and many mandals are vulnerable to heat waves. In 2019, the Panchayatraj and Rural Development had restricted the working hours from 7 am to 11 am during the heat wave conditions for labourers under MGNREGS.

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday that between 2017-18 and 2021-22, some States affected by drought and natural calamity were permitted additional employment of upto 50 days over and above the 100 days per household in a financial year under the MGNREGS.

 

While States like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were permitted under this provision, Telangana was denied such assistance.

On the inordinate delay in release of payments under MGNREGS, she said it was a demand driven wage employment scheme. Under MGNREGS, States furnish funds release proposals to Central government. Fund release to States was a continuous process and the Central government was committed to making funds available to States for the implementation of the scheme, she said.

The Ministry releases funds periodically in two tranches with each tranche comprising one or more instalments, keeping in view the “agreed to” Labour Budget, demand for works, opening balance, pace of utilisation of funds, pending liabilities, overall performance and subject to submission of relevant documents by the States, she said.