Dwindling work days hit rural job scheme workers in Tiruchi

MNREGS in Tiruchi faces criticism as workers receive fewer working days, impacting livelihoods and raising concerns among rural households.

Decreasing number of working days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme (MNREGS) in Tiruchi has raised concern among the workers.

The scheme is aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of rural households across the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to the enrolled workers. It serves the purpose of strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural work force.

In Tiruchi district, about 4.61 lakh persons in rural areas are engaged in 100 days of work under the scheme. Of them, about 3 lakh workers are classified as active as they invariably turn up for work. The scheme is being implemented in 404 revenue villages belonging to 14 panchayat unions in the district.

According to sources, every month, an average of ₹22 crore is disbursed as payment towards workers for executing the assigned works in their villages in Tiruchi district with the wages credited to their bank accounts, through the Central Nodal Account (CNA) every Thursday.

Though the workers were almost given 100 days of guaranteed employment for several years, it is said that the workers had not been given employment as guaranteed over the last few years. In 2023-24 fiscal, only about 60 days of employment were provided. They generally called for work in the first quarter of a financial year. The graph goes down gradually from the second quarter. The workers were hardly called for jobs in November, December and January.

There are complaints that most workers have not been given jobs during the current year also. There were instances of affected workers organising protests in different parts of the district, seeking jobs. The officials tend to provide jobs wherever workers stage protest. There were panchayat unions, where the workers hardly called for jobs.

S. Sridhar, State Committee Member of the Communist Party of India,Tiruchi, said that the workers had been forced to organise protests for seeking jobs under the scheme. The average work days had down to 50 days in a year. It had defeated the purpose of the real motive of the Act. The workers had been facing severe pressure due to lack of jobs under the scheme.