Hyderabad: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has been lying in the doldrums in Telangana state because the dues of the worker-beneficiaries have not been paid for the past three months.
The Centre, which funds part of the scheme that guarantees 100 days of paid work to every rural family that asks for it, owes Rs 250 crore in NREGS funds to Telangana. The government is thus unable to pay the workers. The Centre also owes another Rs 500 crore towards the material component.
Minister for panchayat raj, Jupally Krishna Rao, met Union rural development secretary Amarjit Sinha in New Delhi and requested him to release the funds.
“The delay has been impacting the scheme. The payment of wages is getting delayed leading to resentment among workers,” said Mr Rao.
Mr Sinha apparently told Mr Rao that the ministry would release arrears of Rs 200 crore soon in the first phase and the rest will be cleared by December.
“Telangana has spent Rs 150 crore more than the Centre has released so far,” Mr Rao said. Last year, workers in TS availed of 10.60 crore work days, four crore more than the Centre had sanctioned. This year, TS has sought an additional four crore work days.
